Entries for the 'Action' Category

Admit it. You’ve been waiting for another movie about Robin Hood.

Not exactly? Well, surely you’ve wanted to see Russell Crowe beat up people with objects other than phones for the sake of entertainment, right?

Tony Stark ain’t Peter Parker.

But then again, Robert Downey Jr. ain’t exactly Tobey McGuire, is he?

This is a good thing for which moviegoers should be rejoicing in with the arrival of “Iron Man 2.”

Hollywood depictions of war are too often dripping with the political leanings of people at the top of the movie’s food chain. Don’t get me wrong: I’m as liberal as the next liberal media type, but I don’t need film producers, directors and actors force-feeding their liberal attitude on the Middle East situation to me after I’ve forked over $10.25 for the privilege. I like to let my war movies let me think for myself.

One would think a movie in which a father is frantically trying to prevent his kidnapped teenage daughter from being sold into an underground sex worker network in Eastern Europe would be willing to take some chances. If one made this assumption about "Taken," the fast-paced, justice-seeking thriller starring Liam Neeson, one would be wrong. "Taken" somehow manages the difficult task of being both completely exciting and utterly boring. It's exciting because of the drastic and desperate measures a father is willing to take to get his daughter back from a group of rotten human beings, and boring because it plays out exactly like you'd expect it to. The story doesn't take any chances in becoming any better than it already is, although there would have been plenty of opportunity for "Taken" to become more than a cat-and-mouse game.

It was billed as an entertainment nirvana of sorts, somewhere on par with Page and Plant getting Led Zeppelin back together for a full-on tour, or Mr. Rogers returning to the neighborhood, beloved sweater vest in tow. In all their years of starring in a slew of legendary films, Robert De Niro and Al Pacino have appeared onscreen together exactly one time — in an all-too-fleeting diner scene in 1995's "Heat."

In that crime drama, the Hollywood Hall of Famers were on opposite sides of the law. In "Righteous Kill" (released this week on DVD), the senior citizen versions of De Niro and Pacino are wearing the same NYPD badges.

I have a confession to make: I often have absolutely no idea what is going on in James Bond movies. I mean, I can physically see whichever actor playing Agent 007 at the time chases down bad guys in an Italian sports car, dodging bullets as he performs corkscrew maneuvers flying over a cliff in the Mediterranean before ejecting himself mid-air and continuing the pursuit on a high-powered Vespa — that he parachuted onto.

Edward Norton should really consider making more movies. In fact, I wouldn't be all that opposed to him being in every movie ever made. If it prevents me from having to watch another lame Vin Diesel or Brendan Fraser action picture, why not? Norton does action and drama so much better than almost anyone.

There are some times when being a movie reviewer isn't all that much fun.It's called September. Come to think of it, August wasn't all that impressive in its offering of films up for review, either. Traditionally, the end of the summer is a time when studios release the movies they don't really want to release at any other time of the year — it's too late for the blockbuster summer season, and too early to get the hype machines warming up for serious Oscar contenders.

"Lakeview Terrace" just might be the perfect guilty pleasure. It's got awkwardly presented social issues, barely established motives, beautiful homes in a ritzy southern California neighborhood, neighborly disputes on par with anything on "Desperate Housewives" and star presence supplied by Samuel L. Jackson.

The plot of “The X-Files, I Want to Believe” revolves around the disappearance of an FBI agent.  In investigating the abduction, the only lead the FBI has is provided by a defrocked Catholic Priest who is a convicted pedophile. Father Joe (Billy Connolly) is a psychic who claims he has visions of the missing agent.  The agent in charge, Dakota Whitney (Amanda Peet), doesn’t know whether to trust him or pistol whip him. 

When I sit down to watch an episode of NBC's "The Office," I do so feeling very confident that I'll be treated to a strong comedic performance from Steve Carell. Through four seasons of watching the series, I'm pretty sure he's had me laughing out loud in each episode at his bumbling, awkward portrayal of a boss straddling the fine line between boss and buddy.