Month: September 2013

Prisoners

On the edge of your seat suspense” is what “Prisoners” brings to the party. The movie will hold your attention!

“What would you do if your child went missing? How far would you go to get your child back? A Parent’s worst nightmare is what two sets of parents face in “Prisoners”.
On Thanksgiving Day Anna and her friend Joy go missing. As minutes turn into hours which turn into days and weeks everyone associated with the situation starts to panic. The only lead is a dilapidated RV and Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) arrests it’s driver, but his intense questioning for hours and days of the suspect yields nothing so when the suspect is released by the police department Keller Dover(Hugh Jackman) takes matters into his own hands. The story unfolds from there…

“Prisoners” is an extremely well executed movie. It’s very realistic in its emotions and events that occur. There is plenty of edge of your seat suspense and intrigue. The movie will definitely hold your attention. While I did not like the subject matter, that doesn’t mean the movie was good. It’s a definite must see if you can handle the subject matter. The movie is long in its execution at 2 hours 33 minutes, but worth every minute. There are a few surprise twists that bring everything together toward the end.

As an additional foot note Mark Wahlberg is an executive producer on this movie.

The Family

I found “The Family” to be mildly entertaining with its “Slapstick Wit” and “All out Stupidity and Silliness”.

“The Family”, The Manzonis a notorious Mafia family, are on their way to witness protection. They have been relocated to Normandy France. They go about trying to fit with daily check-ups from their FBI Handler (Tommy Lee Jones), but soon find themselves doing things “their way”. Each family member has some sort of run-in during their first full day in the little sleepy town of Normandy. Soon they settle in, but back in the US, there are mobsters still trying to find them. The story unfolds from there…

The problem with “The Family” is there is no foundation and you are left to make your own determinations about the reason The Manzonis have been relocated. You are shown snippets of days and events long past, but even then the picture isn’t quite set. I see “The Family” as more of a “Dark Comedy” that doesn’t quit come together. The bright spot is the cast.

I would wait for “The Family” to come out on DVD, Blueray or Cable.

Riddick: An IMAX Experience

In this fourth installment “Riddick” (Vin Diesel) finds himself left for dead on a sun scorched planet amongst alien predators. These Alien Predators appear to be a cross between the monster from the movie “Alien” and the “Cracken” monster from the movie “Clash of the Titans”.

The only way off this horrific planet is to activate an emergency beacon, but to do this would bring mercenaries to the planet looking to place Riddick’s head in a box and collect the bounty. Two ships do arrive each jockeying for how they are going to capture Riddick and collect the bounty, but Riddick appears to have the upper hand. He starts to single handedly pick off his adversaries one by one. The story unfolds from there…

Big issue…There doesn’t seem to be any relationship between this installment and any of the others. It’s pretty obvious that the movie is low-budget. It’s a piece of Sci-Fi fare that should have been left on the cutting room floor. The gore and bloodiness are off the charts. I found myself looking away several times. There is tons of action, violence and a bit of nudity, but there isn’t much else. The story sort of rambles on with no meaning and is complete utter nonsense. Some of the dialog isn’t understandable. I think that if the story were more gripping the movie would be tolerable.

“Riddick” ranks up there with “The Lone Ranger” that came out earlier this summer. Neither of these movies should have been made. What a waste… The Rotten Tomatoes rating for “Riddick” is one point from being fresh. I found that to be a laugh. I like Vin Diesel, but he should stick to the “Fast and Furious” franchise.