Wanted is this Summer's guilty pleasure

"Wanted"
Starring: James McAvoy, Morgan Freeman, Angelina Jolie
***.5/****

The rated R Summer action flicks have been a thing of the past. In the last few years, comic book films have taken over the Summer. With "Wanted", this over the top, balls to the wall action flick hopefully will give the action genre a severe boost.

Russian director, Timur Bekmambetov is quick with his constanly moving camera, as he films all the action scenes at a high pace with no time to breathe in between. The story centers on Wesley Gibson (McAvoy) who is the standard average joe office worker who no one appreciates. His best friend is even sleeping with his girlfried. Wesley is too afraid to even say a word about it.

After Wesley's presumed dead assassin of a father is killed, an orginzation called "The Fraternity" recruits Wesley to kill the man that killed his father. Wesley believes his father to be dead 25 years ago, Fox (Jolie) explains to him that he was gun down the day before on a rooftop.

It takes some time, but Gibson is soon training in a mansion with the likes of Fox, and The Fraternity's boss, Sloan, played by Morgan Freeman. Wesley discovers that The Fraternity lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: to carry out the death orders given by emotionless Fate itself.

We see the usual action cliches, the young pupil not believing in himself, and being beaten by those training him, they ask him to curve bullets, he doesnt believe in himself, so on and so forth.

With all the cliches, and what people think would be an obvious plot, there is more to this action flick. First off, James McAvoy truly shines in this role, this actor is versatile and is now on the Hollywood A-list. Angelina Jolie has never been sexier, and is believeable in this Mr. and Mrs. Smith type role. Morgan Freeman is the leader of a group, which he has proven capable in many a film.

The special effects are excellent, the action sequences are first rate along with the directing. About an hour into the film, a few engaging twists emerge in the plot making the film even more enjoyable.

I'm not sure if I'll forget about this movie in a week, or ff I'll see it again. But one thing is for sure, I haven't had this much fun in a movie in a while.

In Bruges is an excellent dark comedy

"In Bruges"
Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ralph Fiennes
***.5/****

Colin Farrell was supposed to be the next big thing. With recent failures including Miami Vice, and Alexander, many thought Farrell would never be able to re-grasp his bad-boy image, along with his proven acting chops that go back to his debut film, Tigerland, which is also his best performance.

In Bruges is a dark-comedy/action thriller. It walks the tightrope of many different genres, and in the end, writer/director Martin McDonagh has crafted a superb buddy film about two moral hitmen.

Colin Farrell plays Ray, who is new to the hitman business. Ray botched his first assignment, and he and his partner Ken played by Brendan Gleeson are sent to hide out in Bruges for two weeks. They wait for thier boss, Harry, played by Ralph Fiennes to call with further instructions.

The film starts off in Bruges, as the two leads prove to have opposing views of the city. Ken finds its beautiful, enjoying the simple attractions and tourist festivities. Ray is miserable as he doesnt fancy the city nearly as much as Ken.
Bruges plays like a character in the film, it's a medieval town, with a gothic and fairy-tale feel.

The film starts as a buddy comedy of sorts, Ray and Ken are both handling the situation in thier own way. As the film progresses, we learn more about the guilt that Ray has and why. Gleeson is a perfect compliment to Farrell's young and fiery character, Gleeson tries to provide wisdom and ease all situations with his fatherly qualities, keep in mind these are both gangsters.

In Bruges handles the narrative like any other gangster film would, except Ray and Ken are truly three-dimensional characters. They each have thier own moral compass, and code with which they follow, fleshing out thier characters even more.

There are some interesting twists in the 2nd half that don't come across as shallow or pretentious, they progress the plot in a plausible and interesting manner.
What amazed me about the film was how it balanced itself between familiar and original work, as soon as we think we know where the film is headed, it flips the audience on its ear.

The dialogue is tremendous, as writer/director Martin McDonagh proves to be a worthy first time film-maker with an extremely promising future. The score done by Carter Burwell is also tremendous.

Getting back to Farrell, this guy was born to play this frustrated and wiery character. It also helps that the character is Irish, which Farrell obviously is in real life. After some huge misses, Farrell has re-gained his footing and will hopefully continue to do great work from here on out, I've been waiting for this type of performance out of him.

In Bruges is dark, unique, and something fresh. I enjoyed the characters company for two hours, along with the gorgeous backdrop that is Bruges. Please seek this gem out.

Upcoming Reviews...

Updated Top 10 of 2007

After re-peated viewings of my favorite films of 2007, I present my final top 10.

1. There Will Be Blood (6 viewings)
2. No Country for Old Men (5 viewings)
3. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2 viewings)
4. Into the Wild (4 viewings)
5. Zodiac (3 viewings)
6. Once (3 viewings)
7. Atonement (3 viewings)
8. Juno (2 viewings)
9. Michael Clayton (2 viewings)
10. The Bourne Ultimatum (2 viewings)

Films seen in 2008 so far

Iron Man: ***/****
Cloverfield: ***/****
The Incredible Hulk: ***/****
Recount: ***.5/****
Forgetting Sarah Marshall: ***/****
Smart People: ***/****
Stop-Loss: **/****


It's been a down year so far, although I have only given 1 film a bad review (Stop-Loss), only 1 film has surpassed 3 stars. That would be Re-Count, an HBO film about the 2000 election between George Bush and Al Gore. Many people haven't seen the film, but it's the most involving and interesting thing I've seen in 2008. Although I have missed some films I wanted to see, including In Bruges and Snow Angels are out on dvd very soon, that excites me. I've also caught up on some 2007 titles I've missed, including The Savages, and Control, both of which I gave 3 stars. The only films from 2007 that I havent seen, that appeal to me are, Charlie Wilsons War and Ratatouille (spelling?) Everything else, I have consumed

I am also sad to say that most of the Summer films that I was excited for got torn apart by critics, and therefore, I havent seen. These films include: The Happening, Speed Racer, and Indiana Jones. Things are looking bleak for this Summer, but we still have potential hits like Hancock, Wanted, Hellboy 2, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express, and The Dark Knight.

Control (2007)

"Control"
Starring: Sam Riley, Samantha Morton
***/****

Music biopics are usually hit or miss, with Control, director Anton Corbijn uses a promising young actor to carry this film. Sam Riley plays Ian Curtis, the lead singer for Joy Division. If you're into music of the 70's, or music period, you most definitely know of Ian Curtis and the band that he lead into fame long before he took his own life in 1980.

This film is a chronicle of the late Curtis, who married young, and couldn't keep together a stable marriage with his wife Debbie, played by the underrated Samantha Morton. Debbie is a caring and concerned wife, she tries to understand Ian but cannot, shes aches for some kind of emotion to come out of him, but she, nor the audience ever catches a glimpse of it.

The actor Sam Riley, truly commands the screen in this performance. He gets all the mannerism of Curtis on-stage correct, and gives this film its pulse for 120 minutes. The muted chemistry with Riley and Morton is always there, even though they share few words together, just quiet scenes that explain more with silence than dialogue.

The film is shot in black and white and for good reason. It captures the dark and somber tone of the film, as well as the working class atmosphere of Curtis's home town in England.

Control is an absorbing film, film-critic Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said that, "You don't watch this film, you live this film." That is a great way to summarize this film. During all the concert scenes, the film sucks you in, as you're isolated with Curtis, and the young actor portraying him.

My only problem with the film is that the first hour is much better than the second hour, the pacing got slower in the second hour and I felt less care for the characters by the time the film ended. Even with those flaws, Control is a good film, and one worth seeing.

The (good but not great ) Incredible Hulk

"The Incredible Hulk"
Starring: Edward Norton, Liv Tyler, Tim Roth, and William Hurt
***/****

The first Hulk film directed by Ang Lee back in 2003 wasnt a huge box-office success, it received a good grade among critics, but not among comic fan boys and the popcorn crowd. The film that everyone expected back in 2003, has now been released in 2008.

The franchise has received a much needed facelift, the cast and director changed, along with the pacing and scope of the story. The new Hulk looks more realistic and human, he's also meaner and much more frieghtening. Director Louis Letterier, who directed both Transporter movies, steps in the directing chair, with Ed Norton and Liv Tyler playing Bruce Banner and Betty Ross.

Norton is one of the most interesting actors in Hollywood, he has had success since the mid 90's, and is the perfect casting choice for this big-budget comic sequel. He can get people into the seats, which Eric Bana couldn't back in 03.

The story starts with fugitive scientist Bruce Banner hiding out in Brazil. He works in a labor factory where no one will notice him. Throughout the film we are updated with how long until the Hulk's last incident, as the movie opens, Banner has gone 158days without an incident.

An accident happens with Banner in the bottling factory, and his blood drops into one of the bottles being shipped. Soon, the bottles end up in the states, with a man having drunk the mixed blood from Banner with the soda. The man received Gamma poisioning and soon General Ross (Hurt) hears of the news. Ross asembles a team, headed by Emil Blonsky (Roth) to head to Brazil to detain Banner and bring him back to the States. The team fails miserably and Blonsky is the only survivor of the team, amazed at what he witnessed, the transformation of Banner into The Hulk.

Throughout the film Banner communicates with "Mr. Blue", a scientist trying to find a cure for Banner. Betty Ross, Banner's past love interest, may also have the data needed to cure Banner. The story shifts to the states, and everyone is on the tail of Banner, who has met up with Ross. They meet up with Mr.Blue played by Tim Blake Nelson, who does have the cure for Banner. When Ross's men interfere, and Banner escapes, Blonsky makes Mr.Blue inject him stuff to give him similar traits as The Hulk, he turns into "The Abomination."

The film turns into The Hulk against The Abomination, which gives way to great action sequences with impressive CGI and directing. This film reminded me of The Bourne Series and Transformers, we see a lot of Banner on the run in a lot of quick cutting scenes, and these two giants monsters battling in the streets causing carnage. A very entertaining film that hints at more Marvel genius in upcoming years.