Looper

 

In the futuristic action thriller Looper, time travel will be invented - but it will be illegal and only available on the black market. When the mob wants to get rid of someone, they will send their target 30 years into the past, where a "looper" (a hired gun), like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is waiting to mop up. Joe is getting rich and life is good until the day the mob decides to "close the loop," sending back Joe's future self (Bruce Willis) for assassination. The film is written and directed by Rian Johnson and also stars Emily Blunt, Paul Dano, and Jeff Daniels. 

This movie did two things incredibly well.  Sci Fi is all about making people believe in the world being portrayed.  This "future" was very well developed and beliveable.  The storytelling and back and forth between present Joe and "future" Joe's stories was incredibly done.  You found yourself going back and forth rooting for them as you understood both of their lines of thinking on how things had to play out.  There were only two things that kept me from completely raving about this movie.  One - the makeup on Joseph Gordon-Levitt making him not look like Joseph Gordon Levitt was driving me crazy the whole movie.  I don't see why that was necessary at all.  The second thing is that the pacing was so kick ass for the first half of the movie and then awesome for the last 1/2 hour but there was a 1/2 hour in there where the movie basically just kind of stopped.  If that were done better, this would be a lock for my top ten movies list . . . . . even with the ending that is very philosophical instead of the textbook closure providing type.

I would definitely recommend people checking this out.  It is excellent sci-fi and amazing storytelling. 

Hotel Transylvania

 

Welcome to the Hotel Transylvania, Dracula's lavish five-stake resort, where monsters and their families can live it up, free from meddling from the human world. But here's a little known fact about Dracula: he is not only the Prince of Darkness; he is also a dad. Over-protective of his teenage daughter, Mavis, Dracula fabricates tales of elaborate dangers to dissuade her adventurous spirit. As a haven for Mavis, he opens the Hotel Transylvania, where his daughter and some of the world's most famous monsters, Frankenstein and his bride, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, a family of werewolves, and more, can kick back in safety and peace. For Drac, catering to all of these legendary monsters is no problem - but his world could come crashing down when one ordinary guy stumbles on the hotel and takes a shine to Mavis.

This was a simple, fun kids movie that the adults can enjoy as well.  It wasn't a bunch of stupid toilet humor because of the Adam Sandler factor.  It was funny more because of the incorporating of all the "monsters" that we have come to know through numerous forms of presentation.  Dracula bugging out when he got mad for a couple of seconds didn't get old, the Wolfman stuff was really funny and the zombie's throughout it all were great.  The story was cute and the run time was perfectly short. 

I would definitely recommend people checking this out - especially those of you with kids.  Hopefully this movie marks the end of the black hold of movie going that the first 2/3 of September represent and there will be more worthwhile stuff for the families like this to go check out.

Dredd

 

The future America is an irradiated waste land. On its East Coast, running from Boston to Washington DC, lies Mega City One- a vast, violent metropolis where criminals rule the chaotic streets. The only force of order lies with the urban cops called "Judges" who possess the combined powers of judge, jury and instant executioner. Known and feared throughout the city, Dredd (Karl Urban) is the ultimate Judge, challenged with ridding the city of its latest scourge - a dangerous drug epidemic that has users of "Slo-Mo" experiencing reality at a fraction of its normal speed. During a routine day on the job, Dredd is assigned to train and evaluate Cassandra Anderson (Olivia Thirlby), a rookie with powerful psychic abilities thanks to a genetic mutation. A heinous crime calls them to a neighborhood where fellow Judges rarely dare to venture- a 200 story vertical slum controlled by prostitute turned drug lord Ma-Ma (Lena Headey) and her ruthless clan. When they capture one of the clan's inner circle, Ma-Ma overtakes the compound's control center and wages a dirty, vicious war against the Judges that proves she will stop at nothing to protect her empire. With the body count climbing and no way out, Dredd and Anderson must confront the odds and engage in the relentless battle for their survival.

Most unnecessarily long plot summary ever for a movie with no story/plot whatsoever.  This is total garbage.  Acting poop.  Writing poop.  Action even poop.  This was just a cheap excuse to show gunshots and exploding blood in slow motion 3D.  Total garbage.

Should anyone see this?  Absolutely not.  Pretty much a lock for the Bottom 10 at the end of the year.

House At The End Of The Street

 

Seeking a fresh start, newly divorced Sarah (Elisabeth Shue) and her daughter Elissa (Jennifer Lawrence) find the house of their dreams in a small, upscale, rural town. But when startling and unexplainable events begin to happen, Sarah and Elissa learn the town is in the shadows of a chilling secret. Years earlier, in the house next door, a daughter killed her parents in their beds, and disappeared - leaving only a brother, Ryan (Max Thieriot), as the sole survivor. Against Sarah's wishes, Elissa begins a relationship with the reclusive Ryan - and the closer they get, the deeper they're all pulled into a mystery more dangerous than they ever imagined.

This movie started off as a decent creepy movie with the sister still being alive and the brother trying to cover for her and keep her hidden.   It wasn't really good, but decent.  Then there was a twist that pretty much dumped this movie right in to the crapper and I felt like I was watching a repeat of that show Criminal Minds.  Can't really go in to much more detail without playing the whole Spoiler Alert thing and to be honest - the movie was too crappy to waste my time going in to any more detail.

I would absolutely not recommend anyone bothering with this movie.  It is pretty pointless and a big pile of poop.  Any hope it might have had left once they did their stupid swerve.

End Of Watch

 

Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena star in End of Watch as young Los Angeles police officers Taylor and Zavala as they patrol the city's meanest streets of south central Los Angeles. The film creates a riveting portrait of the city's most dangerous corners, the cops who risk their lives there every day, and the price they and their families are forced to pay.

This movie was awesome.  It seemed so real.  They did such an amazing job of hooking you into these two characters that the intensity you felt when they were in action was amazing and the laughs you had while they were busting each other's chops were equally as great.  There were a couple of times where I started to wonder where the movie was ultimately going but I didn't really care because I would gladly keep watching the daily events in these two cops lives. 

I would absolutely recommend people checking this movie out.  Granted this has been a pretty bad year for movies so take this with a grain of salt - but this is easily one of the best movies that I have seen this year.

Resident Evil: Retribution

 

The Umbrella Corporation's deadly T-virus continues to ravage the Earth, transforming the global population into legions of the flesh eating Undead. The human race's last and only hope, Alice (Milla Jovovich), awakens in the heart of Umbrella's most clandestine operations facility and unveils more of her mysterious past as she delves further into the complex. Without a safe haven, Alice continues to hunt those responsible for the outbreak; a chase that takes her from Tokyo to New York, Washington, D.C. and Moscow, culminating in a mind-blowing revelation that will force her to rethink everything that she once thought to be true. Aided by newfound allies and familiar friends, Alice must fight to survive long enough to escape a hostile world on the brink of oblivion. The countdown has begun.

Why do they keep making these?   The fact that this is a franchise with however many movies (is this the fifth one, now?) is one of the things that I hate the most about my movie seeing problem.  It's just another Resident Evil movie.  I really don't have to say anything else.   It's poop.  Just like the rest of them for the most part. 

Really?  Would I recommend it?   No.  I recommend that for the love of all that is holy they stop making these damn movies.

The Words

 

Starring Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Irons, Dennis Quaid, Olivia Wilde and Zoe Saldana, The Words follows young writer Rory Jansen who finally achieves long sought after literary success after publishing the next great American novel. There's only one catch - he didn't write it. As the past comes back to haunt him and his literary star continues to rise, Jansen is forced to confront the steep price that must be paid for stealing another man's work, and for placing ambition and success above life's most fundamental three words.

It's hard to put my finger on why, but I liked this movie.  A lot.  I'm not saying its a great movie but it was very enjoyable for the usual toilet of movie releases that is the month of September.  I guess it was the storytelling format that they used.  It was simple and different and even though you knew any twists that would pop up, you were still totally intrigued to see how it played out . . . . or was told by the narrator.   The movie was also very short and I think that the lack of dead time kept the storytelling that much tighter.

I would recommend people check this movie out.  Again - it's not a must see by any means but I did enjoy it very much just because of the narrative way of telling the story and the back and forth between three different writers.

Hit And Run

 

Hit and Run is the story of Charlie Bronson (Shepard), a nice guy with a questionable past who risks everything when he busts out of the witness protection program to deliver his fiance' (Kristen Bell) to Los Angeles to seize a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Their road trip grows awkwardly complicated, when they are chased by the feds (led by Tom Arnold) and increasingly dangerous, when Charlie's former pals, a band of gangsters (led by Bradley Cooper), enter the fray.

I sat through this movie for the first 30-40 minutes with that "how bad can this movie really be" face on and begging WW to leave.  The acting was god awful.  Don't know if you read in the synopsis above that Tom Arnold was in it.  After seeing his 4th or 5th rant of the movie, I finally realized that I had the car keys on me and was able to use that leverage to pull the plug before Bradley Cooper even came on screen. 

I would not recommend that anyone even waste the half hour that I did on this movie.  This is one of those movies that will be etched in my mind under the category of how the hell do movies like this even get made in the first place.  The budget that was spent on something like this could probably cure hunger in Ethiopia or something for Christ's sake!!!

Premium Rush

 

Dodging speeding cars, crazed cabbies, open doors, and eight million cranky pedestrians is all in a day's work for Wilee (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), the best of New York's agile and aggressive bicycle messengers. It takes a special breed to ride the fixie (super lightweight, single-gear bikes with no brakes) and riders who are equal part skilled cyclists and suicidal nutcases who risk becoming a smear on the pavement every time they head into traffic. But a guy who's used to putting his life on the line is about to get more than even he is used to when his last envelope of the day, a routine "premium rush" run, turns into a life or death chase through the streets of Manhattan.

Is this what Hollywood has come down to?  Remaking old Kevin Bacon movies from the 80s.  They don't openly admit that this is a remake of Quicksilver but it sure as hell felt like it.  And how in the hell did such legit actors like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Michael Shannon decide to do this?  It's not that the movie was horrible.  It's somewhat watchable and short enough that you don't lose interest in it and what not.  It's beyond predictable from the first scene and they try to mix it up by going back and forth over the two hour timeline covered in the movie. 

I would somewhat recommend this movie to people.  Like if you have absolutely nothing else to do and have seen most other movies out there maybe.  It's not bad, but its not great.  It's just kind of there.

The Cold Light Of Day

 

Will Shaw (Henry Cavill) goes to Spain for a weeklong sailing vacation with his family but his whole world turns upside down when the family is kidnapped by intelligence agents hell-bent on recovering a mysterious briefcase and Will suddenly finds himself on the run.

My how far some big name actors have fallen.  Bruce Willis and Sigourney Weaver were useless in this movie.  Honestly, the whole movie was useless and this was not a good start for the guy that is taking over Superman.  This movie had been pushed back over a year and it was not hard to understand why.  There was zero suspense in this "suspense" movie.

I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting their time with this one.  It is pretty much pointless and not worth the time at all.

The Possession

 

Clyde (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Stephanie Brenek (Kyra Sedgwick) see little cause for alarm when their youngest daughter Em becomes oddly obsessed with an antique wooden box she purchased at a yard sale. But as Em's behavior becomes increasingly erratic, the couple fears the presence of a malevolent force in their midst, only to discover that the box was built to contain a dibbuk, a dislocated spirit that inhabits and ultimately devours its human host.

I tend to not look forward to these PG-13 exorcism type movies because they never hit the mark.  Anything remotely creepy is usually shown in the trailers and it's a waste of 90 minutes.  Finally, this one was enjoyable.  It had plenty of creeped out moments.  It had to do with a kid which for whatever reason is always that much more terrifying.  The story wasn't over the top too much that it slowed the movie down too much.  Pretty surprising.

I would definitely recommend creepy movie fans check this one out.  It was a pretty entertaining watch.