Awesome movie. The story of Captain Richard Phillips and his crew of the MV Maersk Alabama, a huge cargo ship that got hijacked by Somali pirates in 2009.

Tom Hanks plays Captain Phillips, so you know what kind of performance you can expect (the end is truly breathtaking stuff). He plays against Muse (new comer Barkhad Abdi who plays his part just as well as Hanks) who is the leader of the hijacking. The event plays through an intense few days and knowing too much will dull the sense of emergency and suspense on your first watch. It’s a well paced 2 hour experience that’ll leave you tingling.

With Paul Greengrass directing a movie on the ocean I was concerned Captain Phillips would be a free-for-all camera pitch and roll fest. He reeled it in though and comes through with what I think might be his best work to date.

Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! Not the Perron family, they have a demon infestation (ghosts are apparently a different kind of annoyance). The Conjuring is the latest haunting (with a dash of possession) film that has scared the pants off of a whole lot of people (huge opening weekend, almost 140 million domestic total).

It seems like most of these movies are based on “true events” which is always a good hook to have in promotion. This one is from the files of Ed and Lorraine Warren who are authorities on contact from the other side. Through the late 60’s and into the 70’s they made dozens of trips to investigate paranormal activity (even a full blown possession before this case apparently). The Warren’s are contacted by the Perron family who have just moved into a farm house and there is some really shady stuff going on. As soon as the Warren’s enter the home, they know that this isn’t a hoax or the family hearing things that can be explained away. There is a evil presence that has attached itself to the Perron’s and won’t let go of them easily.

It’s an effective horror movie. The easiest comparison is to the Paranormal Activity franchise, but this isn’t a found footage movie. This follows the more tried and true cinema take and evens mimics the 70’s style film aesthetic to match the time period of the movie. The Conjuring relies on a lot of jump scares/orchestra hits, but there is a heavy sense of foreboding and dread as soon as the boarded up basement is found in the house. The cast is great, the story of the house is a neat one and the haunting set pieces work up well. Misdirection, stuff in the shadows, physical manifestations, right up to ‘drag em around by the hair’ and demonic possession.

Director James Wan has made his bones in the horror genre (Saw, Insidious) and I like his work here. Interesting shots and production design with solid FX work. He knows how to set a scene and follow through. But there’s so much competition in this genre now that they all step on each others toes. The ‘hair dragging’ bit has been done to death, it’s hard to show something new. While I did like the movie, you can’t ignore how it checks every box down the haunted house list which makes it feel redundant. Speaking of showing, The Conjuring avoids almost any gore. Some scratches, bruises, a bit of ‘evil vomit’ and a bite wound are the extent of it.

The end was a real cop out too. It seemed too easy and simple. The movie is a huge build up until the last 10 minutes and then it’s suddenly over. For a demonic entity with a real mission, it sure gave up without much of a fight. It was almost like it knew it was on 100th page of the script and it was time to wrap it up quick. An otherwise strong horror movie left me disappointed at the end. You don’t want that to be your audiences’ last feeling.

Arnold Schwarzenegger has been a really busy guy since leaving office, he’s in a few movies every year. They’ve been pretty good too! No real stinkers. Escape Plan with Sylvester Stallone continues that streak.

Sly plays Ray Breslin, a prison security expert who’s so good at his job that the feds hire him to break out of their highest security prisons across the country. If he can’t break out, no one can. After a job, Ray and his team get an offer (at double his standard rate) to break out of a brand new facility that is off the grid. So far off the grid that it’s existence isn’t acknowledged to any one. It was made to keep the world’s most undesirable people off the streets for good. After accepting the job, Ray is yanked away from society and quickly realizes that this isn’t a job. Someone wanted him out of the way.

Prison break movies are fun and you don’t see many of them these days. It’s a twist on the spy/action movie formula that always keeps you guessing. How someone gets in is the easy part, how they get out is the real question. The prison in Escape Plan is a doozy of a facility. It was built using Ray’s own notes so it pushes him farther and harder than any prison before it. It takes his knowledge and some new inside friends to come up with a plan that even has the smallest chance of working.

One of those friends is Rottmayer, played by Schwarzenegger. Being the ultimate 80’s action star team up that is really only teased in The Expendables franchise, the two quickly meet and team up (hmmm…). They work well together, it’s a lot of fun to see them co-star and they both get their time to shine in various action scenes. The set piece where Rottmayer gets his hands on a mounted automatic gun was clearly pulled out of the Arnold cinematic rulebook. It was probably the first scene that was written.

While the set up and execution work well enough, the obvious question always came up as things unfolded. Why was all the effort and expense put into this crazy prison when an assassination would be doing the same thing, but easier? The guys being thrown into this crazy prison are supposed to be really bad news, but you never hear why any of them are in there (it looks like there’s close to 200 inmates). It’s mentioned that people/groups pay this company a fortune to get and keep these prisoners, so why do that instead of a hit? Seems like a drive by or explosion would be the most permanent solution if you are going to pay millions to make someone disappear.

Despite that, Escape Plan is a fun, well made movie that’s great for a weekend rental.

Vin Diesel returns as Riddick in Riddick, the third movie in the series. The first, Pitch Black, remains the best one. This movie is more cute than anything, which is a weird thing to come away with from a sci-fi action movie with a notorious convict as it’s main protagonist.

Riddick has been left for dead (again) on a rather inhospitable planet. He MacGyvers it up, patching up his wounds and setting up a little home for himself. He even gets a space dog pet (it’s really cute as far as space animals go). Riddick gets to show off his good side. Everyone else just has a problem with doing whatever it takes to survive. Things go pretty well until he realizes that the natives will soon be making more trouble than he could handle. Finding an abandoned station, he sets off an emergency beacon to try and hitch a ride off planet. Two groups show up to claim the bounty on Riddick’s head, one dirty merc group and another with a more military background lead by a man who has ties to Riddick’s past.

The movie is more or less a survival tale. First against the environment, then people and then the environment again. Vin Diesel does what he loves, playing a bad ass in space! The movie hits all the marks of an VD action flick on a budget. It’s got copious amounts of decent CG that keeps on trucking. It’s just short of 2 hours, has some good action and sets up a sequel. If you’ve seen the other 2 movies, I say check this one out. It’s nothing special, but it isn’t half bad either. Does that sound too ambivalent?

I didn’t think Kick-Ass really needed a sequel, but it turns out I enjoyed seeing Kick Ass and Hit Girl again. The first movie was a dirty romp of a comic book movie that ran it’s story in a complete beginning to end arc. K-A2 brings us back to the life of Dave Lizewski who hung up his spandex suit after blowing up Red Mist’s father in the first movie. With his crazy idea of being a super hero put to rest, he goes back to being a high school kid, but soon finds himself bored of the mundane. He approaches Mindy Macready again who has yet to put her knives and nunchakus away as Hit Girl. She trains him again to hit the streets as Kick Ass and after a change of heart, she hangs up her cape and Kick Ass goes off to join a like minded vigilante super hero group. This stokes the fires of Red Mist again who is bent on revenge for his father. Donning a new name moniker, he makes his own super villain group to destroy Kick Ass and the city.

A lot of what made the first movie stand out is back, the cursing, the laughs and the violence and the moral fiber of what it means to be a real hero. The main cast is all back with Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Chloe Grace Moretz and Christopher Mintz-Plasse. CMP really goes for it, pushing Chris D’Amico as far into insanity as he can go. If Lex Luthor was a stupid kid with uncontrollable rage, he’d be Chris D’Amico.

While I liked seeing these guys again, I was left a bit ambivalent in the end. While not a bad movie, it didn’t do anything too great either. The characters are the best part, some good action scenes (the green screen work is rough), but it’s an easy movie to skip. I think I missed director Matthew Vaughn from the first movie the most as he had a much more interesting and kinetic eye for the material than Jeff Wadlow. Too been there, done that.

The Lone Ranger got brutal press reviews when it came out in the summer of 2013. It was like the gates of hell had been opened in a theatre and humanity had to condemn it. Going in, I tried to keep an open mind and I pretty much got what I expected.

First, let’s look at the big names behind The Lone Ranger. Directed by Gore Verbinski and Executive Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, two guys known for huge summer blockbusters. Main star Johnny Depp in another character roll (Jack Sparrow being the other character roll that gave him a massive career resurgence 10 years ago) in a summer blockbuster. If anything, which I think is what bothered most critics, this is a really bombastic and excessive movie. Two huge action sequences set on a train (where it looks like most of the budget was spent) that are really over the top with a few rather violent smaller action set pieces in between. This is a Western so shoot outs are expected and it isn’t gory at all. A lot of people do go mowed down. In the end I really liked the story, but it takes a long time for the movie to get on with the revelation of who all the villains are (which wasn’t a surprise) and their motive. I think the end motive is good, as is Tonto’s backstory. It clocks in at almost 2 and a half hours so it did feel drawn out. The easiest cut would be the odd scenes with the boy and old Tonto, I don’t understand why that was in the movie let alone written. That would shorten the movie by maybe 5 minutes which isn’t a whole lot, but those scenes added nothing and wouldn’t have been missed. Plus all of that make up work on Depp would have been skipped.

The other problem I think is in the general tone of movie which was a bit schizophrenic. A lot of it is played straight and realistic, but Depp’s Tonto goes for comedic relief with almost every line of dialog he has. Plus, Lone Rangers’ horse pretty much has magic powers. He has no problem getting onto the roof of buildings at the most convenient of times. He drinks booze too. Silver is a deus ex machina with 4 legs.
That brings us to the acting which was great all around. Armie Hammer did a good job as John Reid (Lone Ranger) and he had great chemistry with Depp. I really liked William Fichtner as Butch Cavendish, he plays a filthy outlaw with great aplomb. Johnny Depp did what I though he was going to do, it’s a cartoonish spin on a Native American. He made a flamboyant pirate with Jack Sparrow and for Tonto he moves and reacts like a silent film star. I don’t think it was a bad choice, but I don’t think he’ll be remembered for this roll.

In the end, The Lone Ranger isn’t nearly as bad as many made it out to be. I’d say it’s just a good movie…just the thing to watch on a cozy snow day.

I’m a big fan of Ken Marino who is best known for his comedic start with The State TV back in the 90’s. He’s been making a bigger name for himself with his continued work in TV (Party Down, Children’s Hospital, Eastbound and Down, Burning Love) and more and more movie work. I think he’s one of the more under rated guys in comedy right now, but it looks like he’s catching on.

Ken Marino leads Bad Milo a horror comedy about Duncan and his intestinal monster. Yes, a monster that may or not have originated in the bowels of hell, but definatly lives in human bowels.

Bad Milo is a fun little creature feature about the ills of our modern day stress and anxiety. Duncan has a lot going on in his life. A terrible boss that puts him in high stress situations through manipulation and lies, an absentee father that he’s stressed about his entire life and the pressure of a newly pregnant wife. Duncan feels like the walls are closing in on him and the pressure builds up to such an extreme amount that he gets debilitating intenstinal issues. What starts as the need to spend some serious time in the bathroom urupts into Milo, a monster that actually has the best intentions for Duncan. It wants to get rid of all the things that bother Duncan. When the dead bodies start piling up, Duncan has to figure out a way to keep everyone safe around him.

Marino is great in this, he really knows how to sell the insanity of a butt monster. It’s a wild concept that works surprisingly well. It’s not a gory horror movie (much is left to the imagination) but the puppet work for Milo is well done. He’s kinda cute for a murderous monster and seeing a physical creature with the actors helps sell the believability of it all.

While it’s not a movie for everyone, if you can laugh at the premise it’s a good bet you’ll enjoy the hour and twenty minutes with Bad Milo.