movie review

Mercenaries (2014)

Mercenaries

Mercenaries (2014)

Director:

Christopher Ray

Starring:

Zoë Bell

Kristanna Loken

Vivica A. Fox

Plot:

A diplomatic official is captured and imprisoned while touring a war zone, so a team of elite female commandos is assembled to infiltrate a women’s prison for a daring rescue.

Review:

I was kind of excited when I saw the trailer for this movie. Not because I thought it was going to be an amazing movie, but because, for once, it was a ton of women in an action movie. I wanted to see a bunch of women kicking ass and I kind of got that. There were certainly scenes with women beating up on people, but there were also lots of shots focusing on boobs and an overuse of the word bitch.

I don’t have a problem with the word, I just wish they’d diversified, it was redundant. There were a couple things like that, female stereotypes, just thrown into the dialog, all very cliché.

I’d love to have a female driven action movie that wasn’t crap production and had a better script.

2/5

 

Side note: Really love Zoë Bell

Transcendence (2014)

Transcendence

Transcendence (2014)

Director:

Wally Pfister

Starring:

Johnny Depp

Rebecca Hall

Paul Bettany

Morgan Freeman

Plot:

A scientist’s drive for artificial intelligence, takes on dangerous implications when his consciousness is uploaded into one such program.

Review:

The movie doesn’t make me think very highly of extreme activists. If they’d never tried to kill all the techies they never would have uploaded his consciences to computers. They created their enemy and he wound up not even being all that bad, just misunderstood.

The movie had a very interesting subject but it made a very boring movie. Maybe as a book it wouldn’t have been quiet as dull. I don’t need guns and explosions to make a movie interesting but I need more than long shots of a woman walking down a sterile hallway.

Evelyn, Rebecca Hall, started as a strong female character and then she just lost it. She fought to save her husband and then as soon as he was uploaded she just became this weak, passive creature. It wasn’t until the end that she regained some of her strength.

I wasn’t expecting much with this movie and it didn’t give me much. Just another post apocalyptic scenario caused by evil technology or love, whichever you feel like blaming.

2.75/5

Think Like a Man Too (2014)

think like a man too

Think Like a Man Too (2014)

Director:

Tim Story

Starring:

Kevin Hart

Gabrielle Union

Wendi McLendon-Covey

Michael Ealy

Plot:

All the couples are back for a wedding in Las Vegas, but plans for a romantic weekend go awry when their various misadventures get them into some compromising situations that threaten to derail the big event.

Review:

Wow this movie is a whole bunch of romantic comedies rolled up into one. It’s like they couldn’t decide which one to do so they just did them all.

Are you looking for a commitmentphobe who learns to commit?

Or maybe you would like to see a wedding ruined because of Bachelor night hijinks?

How about a couple having issues trying to have kids but finally succeeding?

What about a couple that’s gotten boring and finally learns how to liven things up?

 

That isn’t even all the situations, I just got tired of writing them down.

It was amusing, sometimes, but not something I would ever watch again or even recommend. Maybe it would mean more to me if I’d seen the first movie, but I doubt it.

2/5

Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Good Morning Vietnam

Good Morning, Vietnam (1987)

Director:

Barry Levinson

Starring:

Robin Williams

Forest Whitaker

Tung Thanh Tran

Plot:

An unorthodox and irreverent DJ begins to shake up things when he is assigned to the US Armed Services Radio station in Vietnam.

Review:

I’ve known about this movie, of course, and seen parts on television, but it wasn’t until Netflix added it that I was finally able to watch.

The Vietnam war is such a tragic part of history, both what happened during and after. I thought this movie did a great job showing that tragedy and Robin Williams portrayal was perfect.

I did think the parts with his “romance” were a little weird, but it’s probably just me. I knew when the kid got him out of the cantina that something was going to happen, but I still couldn’t help but feel Williams’ shock at seeing first hand the horror of war.

This was the first Williams film I’ve watch since his passing and it made the movie that much sadder. I couldn’t see him without feeling his loss.

4.5/5

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)

Director:

Marc Webb

Starring:

Andrew Garfield

Emma Stone

Jamie Foxx

Plot:

When atrocities threaten New York, Spider-Man must protect the citizens of New York and his loved ones before New York’s heart befalls into tragedy.

Review:

Ok so hospitals and airports, places like that, have generators that would kick in when the grid goes down. They’re independent of the electrical grid, at least that’s my understanding of it. So I call bullshit on that part of the movie.

I knew what happened to Gwen Stacey, Emma Stone, from the comics, but I was surprised that the movie went that direction. I hope they wait until the end of the next movie to introduce Mary Jane, at the earliest. He needs to mourn and not jump into his next relationship.

I liked this one less than the last. It seemed to channel too much angsty teen and that’s one of my biggest pet peeves.

Jamie Fox’s character was so pathetic you couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. Sadly he never became an amazing supper villain. In the end he was just following Harry’s orders. I know it could be argued that they were in a partnership but it didn’t feel that way.

I’ll watch the next installment but I’m not going to see it in theaters.

2.5/5