Parker

Jason Statham plays a thief  Parker with a code of integrity who's double crossed  and left for dead by his partners in crime for declining his participation into their next heist.  With the help of a real estate agent played by Jennifer Lopez, he goes after the bad guys.  Not much imagination here and certainly no stretch for Statham. I like Jason Statham, even knowing that his films aren't always the best of the action genre.  But Parker certainly falls very short of my already meager expectations here.  First off, the story is dull from the start and the other actors themselves seem to exude that in their performance.  Secondly, and probably more importantly, Jennifer Lopez should never have been inserted in this film.  A bored and nearly broke real estate agent living at home with her mother and yearning for some new excitement meets the exciting outlaw in Statham and is immediately intrigued.  I didn't buy it, there was no chemistry, and (spoiler alert) there was not even consummation between the two.  The latter was probably a good thing on second thought.  I suppose they were going to try and use Lopez to insert a sort of starry eyed romantic comedy sort of thing to a Statham film, but it doesn't work for the aforementioned reasons.  I mean, if I was bored from the beginning and then you have all this lag time before the romantic comedy genre crashes horribly into a substandard action film, it isn't very long before your waiting for this film to just fucking end.  I couldn't even bring myself to look at the special features on the dvd, namely the one titled "Who is Parker".  I'll tell you who Parker is.  He's the same guy as he was in the Transporter, Snatch, Crank, etc. but this time stuck on a dvd featurette that makes for a better drink coaster.

Argo

Argo is the true story of CIA operative Mendez and his plan to rescue 6 American embassy staffers hiding out in a hostile Iran.  In a nutshell, the movie is good.  Director and actor Ben Affleck does a very good job in this.   What really makes this movie excel is not just the incredulous story, but how Affleck manages to effectively capture and pace the film in a way that left me on the edge of my seat.  It's a solid film, but I must admit that after hearing much about this and with its many accolades,  I was expecting something a bit more spectacular.

Seven Psychopaths

Seven Psychopaths is a wild ride for sure. Starring a great cast in Collin Farrel, Christopher Walken, Woody Harrelson,  and Sam Rockwell, it was written and directed by Martin McDonagh of In Bruges fame.  Writer Marty endeavors to write a book about psychopaths along with the persistent help of  best friend Billy.  Wildly chaotic with black humor and inspired delusional storytelling make this film a great ride for the viewer.  The mix of witty dialogue, great acting, and unexpected heart complete the film very nicely.  It's a film seemingly going nowhere, but cleverly taking you everywhere. 

Superpower

Whether you scrutinize the whole world of conspiracy theory or not, if you live in the United States and don't recognize the very real blemishes that we have as a country and how it has and continues to affect us today, shame on you. Superpower is a documentary that explores many of those blemishes and invites us to suspend our American exceptionalism, think, look back at history, and then examine our current state as it relates to our military industrial complex.  Told via interviews with various historians, political leaders, ex-military, and authors; the documentary is compelling at forcing us to look honesty within at our previous and present role as a world superpower and the cost we pay to maintain it.

Flight

Flight is a 2012 film starring Denzel Washington as an airline pilot, who happened to miraculously end up saving the lives of the majority of the passengers and crew.  But as a result of the inevitable fame, comes an investigation that reveals his alcoholism.  This is a very, very good film, most notably in the acting ability of Denzel Washington.  I believe that it is definitely one of the best roles he's ever done, so realistic and compelling is his performance.  The supporting cast is also great, but it is Denzel's journey as pilot Whip Whitaker that is at the heart of the film.  What also makes it great, is that it is also a social commentary on how we as a country treat celebrity/heroes and how we all "function" in a drug culture.

Red Dawn

When the North Koreans invade Spokane, Washington, it's up to a group of teenagers led by ex U.S. Marine Jed (Chris Hemsworth) to take a stand.  Yeah.  Well in case you didn't know, Red Dawn is a remake of the 1984 film of the same title starring Patrick Swayze.  Unfortunately, it's not a remake in believability, acting charisma or talent, or any of the appeal that made the original good.  First, off it doesn't do a very good job of adequately establishing how (even tactically) and why the North Koreans would be invading America in such a grand manner.  If you've stomached through that implausible shit and gotten to the point of where the North Koreans have actually taken over the town, you'll find much more implausibility in these hunky-dory American teenagers all of a sudden learning how to fight a sophisticated guerrilla style war against a more sophisticated airmobile world army; oh and again led by (spoiler alert) an eventually martyred "Captain America" who in the short duration has to somehow impart growing up and being brave to his annoying younger brother Matt (Josh Peck) and the rest of the small-town scrubs who eventually become the infamous Wolverines militia with such an unrealistically  high reputation.   Throughout, I couldn't help but ask where everyone else was, like the fucking American military, the other adults to help them, and even more support for the North Koreans hunkered down in that town.  Eventually, the Wolverines run into 3 real Marines fighting the Koreans behind the enemy lines, who laughably seem so shocked and in awe of the group's reputation, as deep gaps in story logic allow them to perform professional clandestine operations with the Marines.  Just like the performances, everything in Red Dawn felt so small and unbelievably anemic like a bad tv show. This movie quickly degenerates and is akin to an after school kids special that was just impossible to even care about, as it lacked any sense of real urgency.  Red Dawn should not have even gotten to the show and was a waste of my time with it's corny, pretentious, homogenized patriotism.  That's the bottom line.  These days, I really abhor remakes done too soon; and more importantly, remade worse.

Killing Them Softly

All set to write a piece on one of James Gandolfini's last film projects Killing Them Softly after viewing it last night, I wake up today and turn on the news and learn of his passing at the age of 51.  First off, a moment of sadness, respect, and deep admiration for one of the best character actors of his generation and acclaimed television stars who I believe truly changed the "game" in his role as Tony Soprano.  That being said, he was no less effective in this role, portraying the wore out boozing hitman Mickey, subcontracted by fellow hitman Pitt to help eliminate the robbers of a high stakes card game.   The movie is interesting for sure in it's caper premise, laced throughout with black humor and showcasing the current American political-economic overtones of the day and how they also permeate the criminal community.  We're meant to see the parallels within this world and how it is in essence no different in many ways to how banks, government, businesses, and people in general restructure and respond to an economic crisis.  But what made Killing them Softly really stand out for me, are it's strong dialogue and cast performance.   Many movies aren't often made this way anymore, especially in a criminal drama where in this case dialogue moves the film along and takes center stage to comparatively little to no action.