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The Hit List (2011)


The Hit List

 



6/10



Starring
Cuba Gooding Jr
Cole Hauser
Jonathan LaPaglia


Directed by William Kaufman




DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS

It’s been a while since we have seen Cuba in a movie worth over an hour of our lives.

Cuba Gooding Jr has been staying away from the A movies, and plunking out B movie junk after junk, but "PRAISE THE LORD" he did Hit List, an exception from the ones we have seen.

This movie is virtually Collateral (Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx), with different actors and a different point of view.

It has a moral, never talk to strangers, especially when drunk in a bar.

The story is simple, Allan Campbell (Cole Hauser) is having the nightmare of his life. He loses his promotion at work to a colleague and then goes home to find his wife sleeping with his best friend.

Fed up, he goes to a bar to drink away his sorrows. At the bar he meets a guy and while drunk writes a hit list giving it to his new friend. He wakes the next morning and the people in the list start to die one by one in the order in which they were written. Now he must stop his new 'friend'.

The killing style in the movie is quite enjoyable if I may say so myself.

Really this is a good movie. If production values were higher i.e. A-movie budget, it'd be even better. The casting in this movie is adequate cause Cole Hauser and Cuba Gooding JR did extremely well making a believable duo and making the other actors look like shadows. The lines in the movie are wonderful and did I mention that Cuba was excellent in this movie? Because He is. The story line is short, simple and well presented.

My problems with the movie were:
1. Cinematography, it was off at times, to be honest I believe the editor and the cinematographer could have done better.
2. Length, the movie was not long but some scenes were an obvious attempt to extend the length of the movie.
3. A horrible James Bond rip-off intro which was just too obvious to miss.
The twist in the movie was not so good, stolen from the wonderful comedy Nothing to Lose” (Tim Robbins and Martin Lawrence) and you get to see a little of Rambo: First blood, in the ending too (just a little).

At the end you learn one riveting lesson. DON’T TALK TO STRANGERS they may be frustrated psychos looking to kill people. Guess our parents knew what they were talking about when they kept telling us not to talk to strangers.

Priest (2011)


Priest (2011)

  


3/10



Starring
Paul Bettany
Karl Urban
Cam Gigandet
Maggie Q
Lily Collins


Directed by Scott Stewart




Sit tight and Get ready to be bored, with CGI vampires, supposed to be interesting fight scenes, and let’s not forget impossible stunts that don’t even make you say WOW!!! And an unforgettable intro scene that makes you wonder.

I should have rated this movie a 2/10 but I give them a plus one for effort.

Scott Charles Stewart presents the PRIEST, a movie that is lacking in depth and also lacking in a good story. We spend time watching a movie that I recommend you see when you have insomnia and you just don’t want to waste the up time. The film is based on a Korean comic created by Hyung Min-woo that combines the Western genre with horror.

The beginning of the movie shows an animated, supposed to be story depth about Humans and Vampires locked in a war, only for the Church to breed special humans trained to become sacred warriors known as Priests. These warriors tipped the balance in the favor of the humans and ended the war. With the Priests believed to have wiped out the vampires, the Church then disbands the Priests, strip them of their authority and function because they fear that the Priests have become too powerful. So the Priests go underground and find alternative employment.


With a cast that includes Maggie Q, who gives us some nice Possess when she does anything, and adds some romance that is not acceptable in the movie, or in the Priest’s world. Paul Bettany (remember him… the guy from the crappy movie “Legion”where he plays a fallen angel and battles CG enemies or maybe you remember him as the albino assassin in The Da Vinci Code a 2006 film based on a novel by Dan Brown), is here playing a fallen Priest, as he goes against the Church and goes to save his kidnapped niece from vampires, and some odd looking CG enemies.

The Movie dishes out twists like a kid would when telling you a story you have heard over and over again, and he expects you to be surprised. The twist always goes by uneventful, stealing ideas from Blade Runner and Star Wars.

Verdict, please don’t waste your money, why will Stewart make a movie so full of clichés and wasted lines. 60 million went into this movie all of the money can be seen in the ending of the movie in the scene of the train fight. Other than that, the movie is a waste.

Thanks Stewart.

Thor (2011)


Thor (2011)

 




8/10



Starring
Chris Hemsworth
Natalie Portman
Tom Hiddleston
Anthony Hopkins
Stellan Skarsgård


Directed by Kenneth Branagh


Breathe Stop, Its Hammer Time


The first thing I am going to say about this movie is, this is a good movie, so make sure you watch it.

The mighty Thor aka goldielocks, aka son of asgard aka Norse ass kicker, better known for his hammer throwing and his King James English speaking style, this Odin son hits your screen with a bang. The movie has drama, lots of humor and some welcome butt-kicking action that we've not seen since the last Hulk movie. Throw in a healthy mix of domestic conflict with the shenanigans of the god of mischief, Loki and what you get is a movie so good you want to watch it again and again.

Thor (Chris Hemsworth), is a powerful but arrogant warrior, who defiled his father’s command as he raged war on the race of the Frost Giants who attacked Asgard. Odin (Anthony Hopkins) then casts him out of the mystical realm of Asgard, leaving him to live among humans on Midgard (Earth) without powers.

He experiences what it’s like to be human by experiencing all sorts of emotions, especially when he meets scientist Jane Foster (Natalie Portman). Through his interactions with mankind, he rises and becomes one of earth finest defenders.


Now to the plot, comicbookies may not like the fact that events from the comics have been touched up a little, but be assured, this won’t detract from the movie's entertainment value. Initially, there's a certain lack of seriousness in the story but it soon builds up to a solid Thor story worthy off any comicbook fan's attention.

The idea to casting Anthony Hopkins as Odin was the punch in this movie. His mastery of the character is seen, making you want to see him often. Hemsworth played his arrogant and eventual prodigal son character well too. Branagh made him look silly and serious all at the same time and Hemsworth delivered the goods. Then we have Hiddleston as the Trickster Loki, you will love his character in the movie. Portman was okay in this movie, her role was simple as the acting proper was done by the other casts living her with little to do, but she was fine to look at as Thor’s love interest.

A hat off to the casting crew and the movie cinematography is exceptional so is the score and the visual effects.

To be nit-picky, we don’t spend enough time in Asgard. The world is not explored in depth such that you'd want to actually go there.

Thor hits more right notes than wrong ones and I'm not gonna complain. There were lots of pointers to what's coming in the Avengers. Look out for a veteran avenger doing a cameo. There are two major battle scenes in the movie and they rock.