Drive Angry (2011)

Visionary film director Patrick Lussier (2009’s MY BLODDY VALENTINE 3D) has taken the spirit of classic 70’s action films and 3D by combining them together for the explosive, high octane, 3D action-adventure-thriller from Summit Entertainment and Millennium Films called DRIVE ANGRY. Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage (1995 – Best Actor, Leaving Las Vegas) stars as Milton, a hardened felon who breaks out of hell to go after Jonah King (Billy Burke – The Twilight Saga), the crazed leader of a vicious cult, who is responsible for the murder of his daughter and kidnapping his daughter’s baby. With the help of a sexy but tough as nails waitress named Piper (Amber Heard – Pineapple Express), her vintage 1969 Dodge Charger, and one last chance at redemption, Milton has three days to avenge his daughter’s death and save her child from being mercilessly sacrificed by the cult while avoiding capture by an enigmatic assassin, who’s also the devil’s right hand man (William Fichtner –TV’s Prison Break). The film also stars David Morse (The Green Mile) as Webster, Katy Mixon (TV’s Eastbound & Down) as Norma Jean, Charlotte Ross (TV’s NYPD Blue) as Candy, Pruitt Taylor Vince (Mississippi Burning) as Roy, Jack McGee (The Fighter) as Fat Lou, and Tom Atkins (John Carpenter’s The Fog) as Cap. Capone of AIN’T IT COOL News said that this film “must be experienced on the big screen” and I thought this was a very entertaining movie that’s got a lot of great action sequences, and I also thought that this film is almost as a reference to Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino’s GRINDHOUSE movies. I thought Billy Burke’s performance as Jonah King was both scary but good. The movie was filmed on location in Minden, Plain Dealing, and Shreveport, Louisiana from March to May 2010 with an estimated budget of $ 50,000,000. If you’re a fan of action movies or a Nicolas Cage fan, than DRIVE ANGRY 3D is a movie that I recommend for you to see.

Unknown (2011)

“Do you know what it feels like to become insane? It’s a war between being told who you are and knowing who you are… Which do you think wins?”

From Director Jaume Collet-Serra and Producer Joel Silver, the team that brought us 2005’s HOUSE OF WAX and 2009’s ORPHAN, comes the psychological action-drama-thriller from Warner Brothers Pictures and Dark Castle Entertainment called “UNKNOWN”. Based on the novel “Out of My Head” by French author Didier Van Cauwelaert and originally entitled “UNKNOWN WHITE MALE”, The film tells the story of Martin Harris (Liam Neeson – Schindler’s List, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Michael Collins, Taken, and The A-Team), an American doctor, who awakens from a coma after being in a car accident in Berlin and soon discovers that someone has taken on his identity. With no one believing who he really is, being hunted by mysterious assassins, and with the help of an unlikely ally named Gina (Diane Kruger - Inglorious Basterds, National Treasure), Martin plunges headlong into a deadly mystery that will force him to question about not only just his identity, but his sanity, and just how far he's willing to go to uncover the truth about who he really is. The film also stars January Jones (TV’s Mad Men, American Wedding) as Martin’s wife Elizabeth Harris, Aidan Quinn (Benny & Joon, Legends of the Fall) as Martin B., Bruno Ganz (The Reader) as Ernst Jürgen, and Frank Langella (Frost/Nixon, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps) as Rodney Cole. Carrie Keagan of NGTV said “It’s TAKEN meets THE BOURNE IDENTITY”, and I totally agree with her. I thought this was a very entertaining movie that had me guessing till the very end. I enjoyed a lot more than TAKEN and I credit Neeson’s performance one of the best I’ve ever seen him in. The movie was filmed entirely on location in Berlin, Germany from December 16th, 2009 to March 28th, 2010 with a budget of $ 30 million. I recommend UNKNOWN to all movie lovers, and I make it the first best film I’ve seen in 2011.

Ransom (1996)

From Ron Howard and Brian Grazer, the Academy Award winning Director-Producer team of APOLLO 13, A BEAUTIFUL MIND, and THE DA VINCI CODE, Bring us the most intense crime thriller from Touchstone Pictures and Imagine Entertainment called RANSOM. Released in 1996, the film follows the story of New York City’s multimillionaire airline owner Tom Mullen (Mel Gibson – Braveheart, Lethal Weapon trilogy) and wife Kate Mullen (Rene Russo – Lethal Weapon 3-4, Get Shorty), whose only son Sean (Brawley Nolte - Affliction) gets kidnapped by a gang of criminals, who demand $2 million as ransom. At first, Tom cooperates with the N.Y.P.D., and then later tries a unique tactic with the kidnappers’ leader by offering the ransom money for his head. The film also stars Gary Sinise (TV’s CSI: N.Y.) as N.Y.P.D. Detective Jimmy Shaker, Delroy Lindo (Malcolm X) as FBI Special Agent Lonnie Hawkins, Lili Taylor (I Shot Andy Warhol) as Maris Conner, Liev Schreiber (Scream) as Clark Barnes, Evan Handler (TV’s Sex and the City) as Miles Roberts, and actor/musician Donnie Wahlberg (New Kids on the Block, TV’s Blue Bloods) as Cubby Barnes. I sort of grew up watching this film because my Dad took me and my family to see this movie at a drive-in movie theater when I was eight years old. I forgotten about it as the years passed, and I never saw it again till I was a teenager when it was broadcasted on television. Although Ron Howard directed a very entertaining thriller, but it’s hard for me to watch it because this is one of the most intense thrillers I’ve ever seen and can’t watch. The performances of Gibson, Russo, Sinise, Lindo, and Taylor were sensational. And also Liev Schreiber, Evan Handler, and Donnie Wahlberg were also good in their performances. Gibson was nominated for a 1997 Golden Globe award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama, but he lost to Geoffrey Rush for his performance in SHINE. Filmed entirely on location in New York City, New York from January 10th to May 10th, 1996, with an estimated budget of $80 million, RANSOM was released on November 8th, 1996. With $34,216,088 on its opening weekend, the film later grossed over $136,492,681 domestically. RANSOM is one of the best films of the 1990’s, and if you’re a fan of intense crime thrillers, this movie has it all.