Faster (2010)

After spending the last three years making family-friendly movies and comedies, such as GET SMART, RACE FROM WITCH MOUNTAIN, THE OTHER GUYS, and TOOTH FAIRY, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson finally returns to the action genre in Director George Tillman, Jr.’s (Soul Food, Men of Honor, Notorious) action-crime film FASTER. In the film, Johnson plays James Cullen aka Driver, an ex-con who got released after serving ten years in prison and is hell-bent on getting revenge of his brother’s murder by going after the people responsible for it, while a troubled, days from retirement, veteran cop Slade Humphries (Billy Bob Thornton) and a young egocentric hitman (Oliver Jackson-Cohen – Going the Distance) are on his trail. The film also stars Carla Gugino (Sin City) as Humphries’ partner Detective Cicero, Matt Gerald (Avatar) as Driver’s brother Gary, Moon Bloodgood (Terminator Salvation) as Humphries’ wife Marina, Maggie Grace (TV’s Lost) as the assassin’s girlfriend Lily, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra) as The Evangelist, Jennifer Carpenter (TV’s Dexter) as Driver’s ex-girlfriend, Xander Berkeley (Air Force One) as Sergeant Mallory, Tom Berenger (Platoon) as the Prison Warden, and Mike Epps (Next Friday) as Roy Grone. I thought this was a very entertaining action film, with a great look that reminded me of some the old Clint Eastwood and Steve McQueen action films from the 1970’s, with some great car sequences and I enjoyed the scenes when Johnson gets out his revolver and guns down his targets. This movie was filmed entirely on location in Los Angeles, Pasadena, and Santa Clarita, California from February 8th to April 27th, 2010, with an estimated budget of $ 24,000,000. When FASTER opened at #7 on Thanksgiving week on November 24th, 2010, it earned $12,200,000 and gone up against family films like HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS: PART ONE and TANGLED. If you’re a fan of The Rock, action flicks, or both, I would recommend FASTER to you and all movie lovers.

The Next Three Days (2010)

From Paul Haggis, The Academy Award winning director of CRASH, comes the smart, well-crafted crime thriller THE NEXT THREE DAYS. Based on the 2007 French film Pour Elle (Anything for Her) by Fred Cavayé, The film tells the story of John and Lara Brennan (Russell Crowe and Elizabeth Banks), a happily married couple from Pittsburgh, he’s a college professor and she’s a successful business woman, whose perfect life gets turned upside when Lara is accused of a gruesome murder she did not commit. As it affects their relationship three years later, John, who also believes that Lara is innocent, devises an elaborate escape plot and plunges into a dangerous and unfamiliar world, ultimately risking everything for the woman he loves. The film also stars Olivia Wilde (TRON: Legacy) as single mother Nicole, Brian Dennehy (Tommy Boy) as John’s father George Brennan, Daniel Stern (City Slickers) as John’s lawyer Meyer Fisk, RZA (American Gangster) as Mouss, Lennie James (Snatch) as Pittsburgh Police Lieutenant Nabulsi, Jason Beghe (G.I. Jane) and Aisha Hinds (Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail) as Pittsburgh Police Detectives Quinn and Collero, Kevin Corrigan (The Departed) and Jonathan Tucker (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre) as criminals Alex and David, Ty Simpkins (Revolutionary Road) as John and Lara’s son Luke, and a special appearance by Liam Neeson (Schindler’s List) as ex-prison escapee Damon Pennington. When I went to see this movie, I thought it was both entertaining and had some comedic humor to it. I really enjoyed the scenes when Crowe and Banks try to escape from the Pittsburgh authorities. Do they make it? You’ll have to see for yourself. Filmed entirely on location in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania with a budget of $35 million from October to December 2009, the film was originally intended to be released in 2011. Instead it was released on November 19th, 2010, opening at #5 at the box office with $6,542,779. Although the film received mixed reviews by film critics, such as Roger Ebert and Peter Travers, I still think Paul Haggis’ THE NEXT THREE DAYS is a very entertaining thriller and I recommend it for all movie lovers to see.

Unstoppable (2010)

It’s SPEED on a train when Academy Award winner Denzel Washington (2001 – Best Actor, Training Day) and Director Tony Scott (Top Gun, True Romance, Days of Thunder), the team that brought us 1995’s CRIMSON TIDE, 2004’s MAN ON FIRE, 2006’s DÉJÀ VU, and 2009’s THE TAKING OF PELHAM 123, reunite for the fifth time in 20th Century Fox’s 2010 adrenaline rush, action film UNSTOPPABLE. Inspired by true events, the film tells the story about a railroad company frantically working to prevent a major disaster from an unmanned, half-mile-long freight train, essentially a missile the size of New York’s Chrysler building, that’s dangerously carrying a cargo of combustible liquids and poisonous gas while a veteran locomotive engineer Frank Barnes (Washington) and a young rookie conductor Will Colson (Chris Pine) race against time to stop it. The film also stars Rosario Dawson (Sin City) as train yardmaster Connie Hooper, Ethan Suplee (TV’s My Name is Earl) as train engineer Dewey, T.J. Miller (Cloverfield) as train hostler Gilleece, Kevin Corrigan (The Departed) as Inspector Werner, Jessy Schram (Hallmark Channel’s Jane Doe TV films) as Will’s wife Darcy, Lew Temple (Rob Zombie’s The Devil’s Rejects and Halloween) as railroad welder Ned Oldham, Aisha Hinds (TV’s Detroit 1-8-7) as the Railway Safety Campaign Coordinator, and Kevin Dunn (Transformers) as Hooper’s superior Oscar Galvin. I really enjoyed this film the same way when I saw THE A-TEAM in the theater. I thought both Washington and Pine’s performances as the two were both funny and fantastic. Tony Scott said, in his own words, “that this for me was physically and mentally, the toughest movie I’ve ever done”. Why? Because he had make this movie, with a budget of $100,000,000, filming everything practically in-camera, from big action sequences, lots of stunts, 360 camera shots, use very little CGI as possible while a real moving train was going 50 mph, all throughout the state of Pennsylvania and some selective towns in New York and Ohio. Make no mistake when you see Denzel’s character running on top of a moving train, That really is Denzel doing that and he did wear a safety harness while filming it. Not only did Tony reunite with Denzel, he reunited with certain crew members he worked before in the past like Music composer Harry Gregson-Williams (Enemy of the State, Man on Fire, The Taking of Pelham 123) and Film Editor Chris Lebenzon (Top Gun, Beverly Hills Cop II, Crimson Tide). With incredible action sequences and amazing stunts, UNSTOPPABLE is one of the best movies that Tony Scott has ever directed and one of the best films I’ve seen in 2010. I totally recommend it to all movie lovers and again from the words of Tony Scott: “It never lets you off the hook”

The Hunter (1980)

He made his film debut in 1956’s SOMEBODY UP THERE LIKES ME, starred as the soft hearted bounty hunter Josh Randall on CBS’s WANTED: DEAD OR ALIVE (1958-1961), and became one of Hollywood’s greatest actors with hits like: THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN (1960), THE GREAT ESCAPE (1963), THE SAND PEBBLES (1966), THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR (1968), BULLITT (1968), THE GETAWAY (1972), PAPILLON (1973), and THE TOWERING INFERNO (1974). Who am I talking about? The King of Cool himself: Steve McQueen, who stars in Director Buzz Kulik’s 1980 action/comedy/thriller THE HUNTER. Based on real-life exploits, the film tells the story of Ralph “Papa” Thorson (McQueen), a professional bounty hunter, going through modern-day life between tracking down bail jumpers, his relationship with his pregnant girlfriend, and being pursued himself by a psychotic, revenge-driven killer. The film also stars Eli Wallach (The Magnificent Seven) as bail bondsman Ritchie Blumenthal, Kathryn Harrold (TV’s The Rockford Files, Chicago Hope) as Ralph’s pregnant girlfriend Dotty, LeVar Burton (TV’s Star Trek: The Next Generation) as Ralph’s bounty Tommy Price, Tracy Walter (Tim Burton’s Batman) as the psychotic Rocco Mason, stuntman Thomas Rosales, Jr. (The Lost World: Jurassic Park) as Ralph’s Chicago bounty Bernardo, and Academy Award Winner Ben Johnson (1971 – Best Supporting Actor, The Last Picture Show) as Sheriff Strong. Filmed in around Chicago and Los Angeles with an estimated budget of $8,000,000, McQueen was 49 years old when he worked on this movie from September 10th to November 28th, 1979. Sadly it was to be the very last movie he ever did. After the end of filming that year, McQueen was later diagnosed with a rare type of cancer, caused by exposure to asbestos, called Mesothelioma. He died from a cardiac arrest one day after having an operation to remove or reduce several metastatic tumors in his abdomen on November 7th, 1980 in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico at the age of 50. THE HUNTER was released four months before his death on August 1st, 1980, grossing over $16,274,150 domestically. As I was watching this film, McQueen was both funny and entertaining to watch as “Papa” Thorson going after all the criminals in this film. I also thought there were some cute moments between him and his girlfriend. One scene to point out that I thought was very frightening was seeing Walter’s character scaring Kathryn Harrold in the school classroom. Being that McQueen was an avid car and motorcycle enthusiast, he came up with the idea of going against his famous car racing abilities and having Papa to be a terrible driver. Watch out for the real life Papa Thorson making a cameo in the film as a bartender, talking to McQueen’s character. As I end this review, Steve McQueen is one of my favorite movie actors and THE HUNTER shows how great this legendary actor did, both heroic and comedic ally, for one last time. GOD BLESS YA, KING OF COOL (1930-1980).