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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Warm Bodies

Doesn't Skip A Beat

★ ★ ★ 1/2 out of 5 buckets | Matinee or DVD

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Rated: PG-13 - Zombie violence and some language.

Release Date: February 1, 2012

Runtime: 1 hour 37 minutes

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Director: Jonathan Levine
Writers: Jonathan Levine, based on the novel 'Warm Bodies' by Isaac Marion
Cast:  Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, Dave Franco, Rob Corddry, Analeigh Tipton

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SYNOPSIS: When a zombie named R starts to have feelings for a human named Julie, he finds himself in the strange position of finding love after death.

REVIEW: Jonathan Levine, noted director of The Wackness and 50/50, changes direction with a move into a popular but fickle subgenre known as the ZomRomCom - a zombie romantic comedy. Based on a novel written by Isaac Marion, Jonathan Levine adapts to the screen a new dead twist on a classic love story concept.

Being a zombie is a drag, literally! As your rotting corpse fails you and you can't feed you will eventually become a Boney - a skeletal shriveled walker with only the taste of human flesh ad blood. Corpses eats brains, too! But when the twenty-something dead corpse, with only the memory of the first initial of his first name R (Nicholas Hoult, X-Men: First Class), eats brains he feels conflicted about it. When young human survivor soldiers, led by Perry (Dave Franco, 21 Jump Street), venture out from behind the high walls of their safe urban city for a pharma-salvage run, they encounter a pack of corpses with a hungry R in tow. While feasting, R notices Julie (Teresa Palmer, I Am Number Four) and starts to feel something different than just hunger. He protects her from the other corpses in the pack and takes her back to his airfield home. Julie soon realizes that R is different from the other corpses. He escorts Julie back to her city, Julie trying to come up with a way to persuade her general father (John Malkovich, Transformers: Dark of the Moon) to look at R with more than just the urge to put a built in his skull.

Warm Bodies is one of those film that could have premiere CW or SyFy Channel film. But this film goes above and beyond to put together a good cast, clever story, and decent FX in order to give the zombie loving audience a cool big screen experience. There have been other well done zombie genre films that never made the big time, including cult films like 'Fido'. Warm Bodies takes advantage of the recent trend of monster romances like in The Twilight Saga to fit nicely into what is popular theater past time these days. Lucky for us, the filmgoers, Warm Bodies doesn't change the formula of what makes a zombie a zombie, never compromising the essence of the undead craving human flesh and soft brains.

Writer/director Levine adapts some interesting new walking dead ideas from Marion's book, like the deteriorated Boneys and the idea that a corpse can remember and even fall in love. The corpse R shuffles around with the other walkers at the local airport, bumping off his fellow undead with stiffening limbs. But unlike most other zombie flicks where the undead are simply backdrop pieces to a human tale of survival, this film's main corpse R provides a more human internal narrative to give us insight to their inhuman condition and set the stage for sympathetic and sometimes hilarious monologues.

Part comedy, part brain-eating undead survival tale, part classic Shakepearean love story - Warm Bodies is the perfect blended ZomRomCom film for both rabid genre fans and newbies who do not want to have to hide their eyes behind their split fingers. Sure, there are a couple moments that could be frightening to some, the majority of the story is more about the relationship between a corpse who has enough of a memory to collect random knick-knacks and to play found vinyl records on a turn table in his hoarder's airplane fuselage and a human girl who has lost her boyfriend and who does not share the survivalist attitude of her military leader father.

Nicolas Hoult plays R with style and staggering grace, ever the handsome corpse. Teresa Palmer, as the lovely Julie, is not just the typical damsel in distress. She plays fear, sadness, and defiance with equal ease. Rob Corddry, as a fellow zombie and possible best friend zombie to R, trades in pink flesh for a gray pallor  - all the while not relinquishing any of his signature dry wit. And John Malkovich, as Julie's father and leader of the last bastion of humanity, brings all of his Malkovich-esque abilities to his role.

Warm Bodies entertains as a fine genre romantic comedy, offering quaint insights to the human and undead condition. This film will never be on par with Romeo's original Night of the Living Dead, but it does take zombies to the next step of acceptance by the rest of us.

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Transformers: Dark of the Moon IMAX 3D

Pulse-Pounding Thrill Ride

Director: Michael Bay
Writers: Ehren Kruger
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley,Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Patrick Dempsey, Frances McDormand, John Malkovich

SYNOPSIS: As they defend our planet, Optimus Prime, his Autobots and Sam Witwicky may finally have come across a Cybertronian foe they cannot defeat.

REVIEW: Director Michael Bay, using a script from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen scribe Ehren Kruger, returns to the world of Autobots, Decepticons and Sam Witwicky. What happens when a young man helps sentient machines save the world twice from Decepticon threats, receives a medal from the President of the United States, graduates from college, but can't get a job and just wants to feel like he contributing something to the world greater than delivering from the mailroom? What happened on the dark side of the Moon during the first successful manned landing that attracts the attention of the Russian and United States governments, eventually leading to a possible race between the Autobots and Decepticons to get back to the Moon first?

To say anything more about the story would be to give too much away. To suffice to say, Transformers: Dark of the Moon intertwines government conspiracies, a high-tech war epic, and a story of an attempt to overcome insurmountable odds against overwhelming forces into a heart-pounding, non-stop bullets and explosions robo-actioner.

New characters abound in this third outing for the Transformers. The departure of Mikaela (Megan Fox) and the introduction of Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley adds a fresh dynamic to Sam Witwicky's (Shia LaBeouf) personal life, adding a renewed belief and wonder of discovering Optimus Prime and his Autobots for the first time. Patrick Dempsey comes onboard as Carly's boss Dylan and perceived rival for Carly’s affections. As Sam’s boss, Bruce Brazos, John Malkovich brings his Malkovich-y self to alpha-dog self-absorbed yellow-loving role, Bruce Brazos. Director Meade, played by Frances McDormand, brings a tough as nails female to the role of NEST Operations overseer. Epps (Tyrese Gibson) and Lennox (Josh Duhamel) reprise their roles as senior field agents for NEST, getting in the trenches with their teams against a foe so superior they certainly can not hope to defeat it alone – although they never give up. For levity, Bay replaced the annoying Skids and Mudflaps from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with the return of Agent Simmons (John Turturro), the addition of Simmons personal assistant Dutch (Firefly's Alan Tudyk), researcher Jerry Wang (The Hangover's Ken Jeong) and pint-sized Autobots Wheelie (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Brains (Reno Wilson).

As with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, some of the Cybertronian characters could have been expanded on. Of course, Optimus Prime, Bumble Bee, Megatron and a couple others get plenty of exposure, but Sideswipe and other Autobots seem like little more than glossy, high-detailed window dressing. The armies of Decepticons are certainly mechanical minions in the battle for the planet, but only Starscream, Shockwave and Soundwave getting any evil doing screen-time. At a runtime of 2 hours 37 minutes, Bay must have had more to cut out than he could keep, but he did manage to develop the secondary characters as best he could – to fine effect.

The IMAX presentation in 3D brought bone-vibrating sound and in-your-face graphics. The dust and debris hung in the theater, the explosions rocking the seats and the arm cannon blasts blinding the senses. The entire third act is an edge-of-your-seat thrill ride worthy of a movie all its own. Along with the typical classic Michael Bay slow motions and cheesy adrenaline-fueled one-liners, we get a few Autobot/Decepticon Quentin Tarantino moments, and a Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan reference. In IMAX 3D, regular 3D or good ole-fashion 2D, Transformers: Dark of the Moon will renew your faith in the franchise, the three films as a complete trilogy, and the humanity of both man and machine!

WORTH: Friday Night Opening and Blu-Ray

RED

Occupational Hazards
[Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, John Malkovich, Ellen Mirren, Mary-Louise Parker, Karl Urban]



image from collider.com

RANT: It's been awhile since I was able to get to the movie theater. Last weekend consisted of attending the New York Comic Con. I got to hang out with the "Women of Battlestar Galactica" and the cast of AMC's "The Walking Dead". And since I still was basking in the afterglow of comic geekdom, I decide to hang out at Six Flags Great Adventure for Columbus Day for the last gasps of coaster riding. It was truly a wonderful way to exit the Summer!

SYNOPSIS: Attempting to adjust to a life after a career of CIA black OPs, Frank Moses finds himself the target of government assassins. Recruiting the girl he has befriended and other retired specialists, the team head out to find out and stop their pursuers.

The marketing touts "RED" as the best action comedy of the year. Of course we all know that marketing is designed to get us to the theatre. Personally, I went to the movies because of the action star power of Bruce Willis. As a fan of Willis and his track record of action excellence, I usually go to any film that he is involved in. Even his lesser works are fun to watch. Director Robert Schwentke, known for Jodie Foster's "Flightplan" and Eric Bana's "The Time Traveler's Wife", takes the all-star cast of Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ellen Mirren and John Malkovich on a cross-country trip of guns and laughs.

Bruce Willis stars as Frank Moses, a retired CIA operative adjusting to life without adrenaline. Constantly calling Mary Louise Parker's Sarah at the pension office, Frank tries to strike more than a friendship with her. One night, a wetworks team attempts to assassinate Frank in his Ohio home. Frank travels to Kansas City to collect Sarah as her live is in jeapardy as a result of their phone chats. Enlisting the aid of former wetworks and black operatives Joe (Morgan Freeman), Marvin (John Malkovich) and Victoria (Helen Mirren), Moses and his team piece together the reasons why they are being targeted for elimination. As they dig deeper, they find that the contracts are being signed by parties that may be beyond the scope of even the US government's covert branches.

Willis actually plays the straight man in this film. He proves that even though he is not in "Die Hard" prime, Bruce is ever the action hero. Meanwhile, the comedy comes easily as Willis is surrounded by the quirkiness of a deranged John Malkovich, the smooth stylings of Morgan Freeman, the naive excitement of Mary-Louise Parker, and the sexy confidence of Helen Mirren. On a side note, Mirren made me fall in love with her again with a role toting semi-automatics,

On the other side of the coin is Karl Urban's CIA agent William Cooper contracted to eliminated Moses by his superiors. Driven by blind ambition, Cooper echoes what Moses was in his career's youth. Urban plays Cooper cool and collected, a hulking presence in a "company" issued suit. Rebecca Pidgeon plays Cooper's superior Cynthia Wilkes, a ever present CIA spook.

The film is well paced in plot, action and laughs, all done up in perfect balance. The stars make the movie, but the movie stands just as tall on its other merits. The film, aside from kicking ass and causing laughs, gives us a glimpse of what adjustment to retirement can do to a person, as well as what it is like to extend past your perception of use to society. If you are a fan of any of the cast, give this flick a shot. Of course, make sure you are not on the receiving end of Helen Mirren's sniper scope!

Worth: Matinee and DVD

I am also trying out a new rating system shown below based on reader reaction to my somewhat complex monetary rating scale. I will give both ratings and see what kind of reaction I muster. A movie can receive up to 5 popcorn buckets. Why popcorn buckets? Because I am a slave to the thousand + calorie delight! Enjoy!

Jonah Hex

Hex does not mark the spot!

[Josh Brolin, Megan Fox, John Malkovich, Michael Fassbender]

Almost a weekly occurrence now, I am again faced with a weeknight film. Planning to going alone, my plans quickly changed before quitting time as I was accompanied by a pal from work. Instead of hitting the 8:10pm show at Westbury, we hit the 5:25pm show at the Cineplex close to the office. All that allows me to get my review to you even quicker.

SYNOPSIS: Ex-soldier turned bounty hunter, Jonah Hex, seeks revenge against confederate general, Quentin Turnbull, who killed his family and nearly killed him. Called into service by President Grant to hunt down Turnbull, Hex uses his mercenary and supernatural skills for a final showdown.

DC comics brings its lower tier and less known Civil War bounty hunter to the screen courtesy of Jimmy Hayward, best known for directing "Horton Hears a Who!". I could come up with slick tag lines to let you know how I felt about the film, but let's get right into the ragged cheek meat of the film.

Admittedly, although a comic book fan, I am not all that familiar with Jonah Hex other than his mangled look and the era in which he resides. Josh Brolin fills the Hex character well, scarred face and all. Driven and grim, Brolin brings Hex from a simmer to a boil. Malkovich plays Quentin Turnbull, the confederate general who is the source of Hex's misery misery. Malkovich plays the character with calm and cool, but comes off as stoic and stiff. Megan Fox plays the prostitute, Lilah, with a soft spot for Hex. If she was looking to increase her standing as a serious actress with this role, she had better keep looking, or at least fire her agent. Lilah is kept as a sexy prop with a cannon full of one-liners.

Akin to "Wild, Wild West", Hayward tries to modernize this Civil War era tale with electric guitar instrumentals and kinetic camera work. He should have continued looking with animated characters, because his direction of real people seems to be lacking. He relies too heavily on CGI effects for a film genre that typically is shot on a spaghetti string budget. There is obvious reason to use computer effects, especially when recreating period Washington and the 'nation killer' weapon of mass destruction that Turnbull assembles. But there is a scene with a dog and an indian village in the middle background that looks like CGI, that would be less expensive if done as a practical effect.

There are a couple of brighter spots, though. For one, some of the supporting cast make up for some of the misses in the film. Michael Fassbender as Turnbull's trusted henchman Burke is not as sinister as Ben Foster's Charlie Prince in the 2007 "3:10 to Yuma", but is interesting to watch. Aidan Quinn as President Grant, Will Arnet as Lieutenant Grass and Wes Bentley as co-conspirator Adleman Lusk add what little life can be breathed into the story. Also, the parts of the film where Hex uses his connections into the supernatural to revive dead villains for interrogation are arguably the best scenes in the scene, although Hex's found dog seems to have great acting chops.

For fans of the genre or of Jonah Hex, there is not much that I can say on a positive note to persuade even the most hardened supporters to go see this film. But even though I have been accused of being too nice to the films by my ratings, I can not in good conscience regulate this film to 'Network Television'.

Worth: Netflix