Expectations are usually set in concrete by the time the third entry of a franchise is reached, and The Expendables 3 is no exception. You know you’re in for a lot of action, cheesy one-liners, and the kind of plot that can be hung from a clothesline. On that level,… Continue reading
Bringing the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to the big screen has been one of the more interesting cinematic case studies of the past twenty-plus years. Whether live action, animation, or, in this case, motion-capture combined with live action, it’s pretty much impossible for the turtles not to be some combination of… Continue reading
The superhero genre has become so dark and self-serious, not to mention over-saturated, that it’s rapidly becoming a parody of itself. Guardians of the Galaxy seems aware of this and succeeds as a largely character and script-driven experience. Hardly any of the story is original, right down to the MacGuffin that… Continue reading
It’s really amazing that it’s taken this long for Need for Speed, a popular and never-ending video game series, to get the big-screen treatment. On the heels of the mega-popular The Fast and the Furious and its sequels, there is a built-in audience for this kind of vehicular anarchy. And… Continue reading
There are going to be a lot of people wanting to know what kind of hallucinogens writer/director Luc Besson was on when he came up with Lucy. This is one bonkers movie, filled with enough sci-fi concepts for an entire series and just enough grisly action to get by during its… Continue reading
Desperado, released in August of 1995, is basically a big(ger) budget remake of director Robert Rodriguez’s first film, El Mariachi (1992). Many are familiar with the lore surrounding El Mariachi‘s production. It was made in twenty days on a budget of $7,000 (or roughly the cost of afternoon snacks for today’s… Continue reading
20 Years Ago It pretty much goes without saying that True Lies encompasses just about everything a thirteen-year-old boy could want in a movie. It has a sense of humor, lots of cartoonishly over-the-top action scenes, and even a racy striptease because, well, it just feels like it. I knew… Continue reading
20 Years Ago Speed was one of my very first “pure” action films. I was thirteen when it came out and was coming up on the age where my parents were warming up to the idea of me seeing R-rated films. I didn’t see it theatrically, but I nearly wore the… Continue reading
Just because you know you’re a lame retread doesn’t mean you’re not a lame retread. Such is the lesson to be learned from 22 Jump Street, a self-aware sequel to the very good 2012 original that earns some early laughs before disintegrating into screaming matches and just plain unfunny, repetitive… Continue reading
Finally, a summer movie. Edge of Tomorrow is an engaging and exciting sci-fi film that has a lot of fun with its premise. It also delivers the goods in terms of visual effects and action, of which the film contains in voluminous amounts. It’s the kind of movie that used… Continue reading