You're Going To Need A Bigger Statham! "The Meg"

The Meg (2018)

Rated PG-13

Starring Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson, Cliff Curtis, Shuya Sophia Cai, Winston Chao, Page Kennedy,

Directed by John Turteltaub

The Story:

Diving in the depths of the Mariana Trench to test a hypothesis on the actual bottom of the ocean floor, the submarine becomes immobilized and requires a deep sea rescue. The only man for the job is now a drunk, who refuses to step foot back into the ocean because he lost his best friends years ago in a freak accident. When he learns that the cause of the destruction may be the long extinct Megalodon, he heads back into the sea to extract revenge and save the day.

Or...

Jason Statham versus a giant killer shark!

:)

If you've seen the trailer, you know exactly what to expect with this one.

It's a B horror movie that takes itself seriously enough, while having fun in the process.

Turteltaub also fills the movie with plenty of homages to Jaws in the process. Nothing dialogue wise, unless I missed it, but a lot of shots are cribbed beautifully from that movie and are a nice touch.

I'm happy to say that in the pantheon of shark movies, this one joins the list of my favorite killer shark movies of all time:

Jaws
The Meg
Deep Blue Sea
The Shallows
Jaws 2

And no, sorry, Sharknado is nowhere to be found on that list. :)

Whether you want to rush out and see it in theaters, or wait until the eventual Netflix release, that's up to you.

I went last night, took my favorite date, and we both enjoyed it.

I'll be adding it to my home library by Christmas I would imagine.

Final Grade: Solid B for a fun B-Movie!

Death Before Dishonor..."Last Knights"

Last Knights (2015)

Rated R

Starring Clive Owen, Morgan Freeman, Cliff Curtis, Aksel Hennie,

Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya

The Story:

Raiden (Owen) is the commander of an army of knights that are loyal to the nobleman Bartok (Freeman). When called to see the Emperor, Bartok refuses to bribe the emperor's counsel (Hennie) and winds up losing everything in the process. Will Raiden avenge his master, or is he too far gone to find redemption?

Never heard of this one?

Don't worry, I hadn't either.

But when you're looking through movies that are coming out or available to stream in Netflix and Morgan Freeman pops up on the cover of the movie, odds are that it's worth a look.

And this one is.

The story itself is nothing new that you probably haven't seen before, but the production did a great job of recreating the mood and atmosphere of a time and place of legend.

With a European and Asian mix of cast, crew and location peppered with some well known faces, the movie will keep you engaged from beginning to end.

Might be a tad overlong at nearly 2 hours, but the pacing and structure seemed a deliberate attempt to tell the proper story while having the audience become invested in all of the players, both primary and secondary.

Worth a look if you're interested in an action film you might have otherwise missed.

Currently streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: C+

CSI: Jerusalem... "Risen"

Risen (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Joseph Fiennes, Tom Felton, Peter Firth, Cliff Curtis

Written and Directed by Kevin Reynolds

The Story:

After the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth (Curtis), Pilate (Firth) orders his tomb sealed to prevent any more uprisings in Jerusalem. After all, should his followers take the body and claim that he is risen, well who knows what that might do? Clavius (Fiennes) seals the tomb, but alas, nothing can stop Easter Sunday from coming, and not Clavius is going to turn over every grain of sand in the desert to find out who stole the body.

Naturally, everyone knows how the story ends, whether you've read The Book or not.

It's still an interesting tale told from the point of view of not only a non-believer, but someone with a job to do that involves hunting down and finding the very person who will cause Clavius to make some very difficult decisions and choices once he discovers the truth.

In the end, it's not going to convert anyone who doesn't believe, so you have a case of "preaching to the choir."

Well, that's what the church does best, and again, the studios are realizing that there is money to be made by releasing faith-based films into theaters.

With better production values and quality actors, these studios are upping their game and producing high quality films that appeal to the audience they intend, but also are gaining traction with the movie-going public in general.

That it tells a pretty good version of a Biblical story? Even better.

After all, we all remember what happened with Noah, right?

:: shudder ::

Final Grade: C+

Friday Archives... "Push"

Push (2009)

Rated PG-13

Starring Dakota Fanning, Chris Evans, Camilla Belle, Corey Stoll, Cliff Curtis, Ming-Na Wen, Djimon Hounsou

Directed by Paul McGuigan

The Story:

In a world where people with abilities are utilized as weapons, The Division is looking to create a drug that will enhance these abilities. Until today, all test subjects died when they received the drug. However, Kira (Belle) is the first patient to survive, and she has escaped. Now being tracked by Henry Carver (Hounsou) and his cohorts, her only hope seems to be a young girl (Fanning) who can see the future and Nick (Evans), a telekinetic who she can't remember.

I think I last this film in 2009, so watching it again was almost like watching it again for the first time.

I remembered little bits and pieces, but that's like watching a trailer for a movie, and then seeing that part played out in the movie itself. A little deja vu, but nothing that ruins the experience overall.

Had this movie starred anyone other than Chris Evans, I likely would not have watched it the first time, and since I own it, apparently I liked it enough to pick it up from Blockbuster in the previously viewed movie sale.

Sidenote: I miss being able to pick up used DVDs at Blockbuster for a good deal.  ::sigh::

So this takes place back when Evans had already been Johnny Storm, wasn't yet Captain America and seemed to be taking parts in movies that had a superhero feel to it.

The man has been typecast, but I'm grateful for it, because he plays the parts very well.

Amusingly as we watched the film last night, it was fun to see how many actors would go on to the Marvel Universe in the future.  Apparently, they were just testing the waters for it on this film.

Taking place in Hong Kong, the city itself gives the movie a gritty, crazy comic book feel.

The special effects themselves aren't too bad, and really for a modest budget B movie, this film succeeds on that level.

Worth a look if you missed it the first go-round, or if you vaguely remember it from 7 years ago.

Final Grade: B-/C+ range