So Far, So Good..."The Magnificent Seven"

The Magnificent Seven (2016)

Rated PG-13

Starring Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Ethan Hawke, Vincent D'Onofrio, Byung-hun Lee, Manuel Garcia-Rulfo, Martin Sensmeier, Haley Bennett, Peter Sarsgaard, Luke Grimes

Directed by Antoine Fuqua

The Story:

A town living in fear from a wealthy, ruthless mine owner (Sarsgaard) hires a noble gunslinger (Washington) to help save them. He rounds up a few infamous names to assist him with the job, and the Seven ride into town to help the townspeople learn to stand on their own two feet and repel the enemy.

If it sounds vaguely familiar, then congratulations, you have children and watched A Bug's Life.

Or quite possibly you grew up with the original western, The Magnificent Seven with Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen.

And the magnificent Elmer Bernstein score.

Then of course, it would be remiss to not mention Seven Samurai, since it's the version that got this whole story on film in the first place and is considered by many to be a masterpiece.

So where does the newest version land?

As I mention in the title, so far, so good.

It's not a game-changer, and likely to bring westerns back to the silver screen on an annual basis or anything, but it's a nice star-studded remake with enough changes to the characters and motivations to make it worthwhile.

To be fair, I also went back and watched the 1960 version afterwards, and it too has its flaws and isn't quite the perfect western I remembered it to be.

Overall, I quite liked the majority of character changes that the remake made on the characters. They all became a little more three dimensional than their 1960s counterpart.

Plus, the coward of the group wasn't so much a coward, as a suffer of PTSD, and I thought that was quite a novel idea.

Of course, they started the movie a bit over-the-top with just how villainous our bad guy really was.

Had they dialed that back a bit, I think they could have possibly matched or bettered the 1960 version.

Plus, if they would have used the Bernstein theme before the very end, I might have graded this one higher as well.

I mean, you sit there just dying to hear the theme!

:)

Final Grade:  B-

You Might Need "Regression" Therapy To Remember This One

Regression (2015)

Rated R

Starring Ethan Hawke, David Thewlis, Emma Watson, David Dencik,

Writtena and Directed by Alejandro Amenabar

The Story:

A detective (Hawke) uses a psychoanalyst (Thewlis) to get to the bottom of a dad's (Dencik) confession that he raped his daughter (Watson).

And so begins a thriller that is dark, disturbing, and most depressing of all, not very thrilling.

There are twists and turns aplenty in the film, but there's never any real sense of urgency, dread, or real emotion whatsoever displayed onscreen.

Instead of putting thrills and suspense in a thriller, they almost try and make it a horror movie by ramping up the gore, but that doesn't really help this movie either.

It's a heinous crime that may or may not have happened, as Regression Therapy has been seen as both an amazing tool for recall as well as one that can plant false memories as well.

Which story you see here, you'll have to watch for yourself.

Not sure if the tale they used was an actual case, or just based in general off the litany of regression cases that have happened.

Nothing amazing, but not a total waste of time either.

It's average, which sometimes is more frustrating than being either a good or bad movie.

Pick a side at least.

Now streaming on Amazon Prime as of this writing.

Final Grade: C

Need For Speed Weekend: "Getaway"

Getaway (2013)
Rated PG-13 - Language

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Selena Gomez, Jon Voight

Directed by: Courtney Solomon

The Story:

Brent Magna (Hawke) is an ex-race car driver.  He lives in Bulgaria now with his wife.  He comes home to find she's been kidnapped and he must steal a car and follow instructions to complete several tasks if he hopes to see her alive again.  When the kid (Gomez) that owns the car tracks him down, she becomes his unwilling accomplice, putting her computer hacker skills to good use to try and save them both from their mysterious captor.  Will they succeed and save the abducted wife, or will they all wind up dead?

I couldn't put my finger on where I've seen this movie before.

Then about halfway through, it hit me: 12 Rounds.  Or 12 Rounds-Reloaded.

It's True...it's True!

:)

When you start remaking WWE Studios projects, you know you're reaching for artistic heights.

;)

However, this movie is purely speaking, a B movie that knows it, and lives it.

Heck, when the movie takes place solely in the car as they race from the cops to try and pull off the next caper, the movie is rather engaging.

Part of that would be due to the fact that they strap mini cameras all over the inside/outside of the car, so you really get some good car chase footage through the streets.

Plus, many of the stunts are very well done and keep you riveted to the screen.

What Are The Odds For An Academy Award?

It's when the dialogue focuses on the two captives that the movie is just silly.

It's a quick 90 minutes of fluff that goes down easy.

Final Grade: C+
Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I could watch it again someday, no time soon, but if I was channel surfing on a slow weekend someday, I could let it ride.

Corruption In Detroit? Time For An "Assault On Precinct 13"

Assault on Precinct 13 (2005)
Rated R - Violence & Language

Starring: Ethan Hawke, Laurence Fishburne, Gabriel Byrne

Directed by: Jean-Francois Richet


The Story:

It's New Year's Eve and a Detroit police station is going to close its doors one final time.  Sgt Roenick (Hawke) and a skeleton crew of police are holding down the fort when a prison transport carrying notorious mob boss Marion Bishop (Fishburne) arrives seeking shelter from a snowstorm.  Things go from bad to worse when the station is besieged by vigilantes looking to take out Bishop.  Imagine Roenick's surprise when he learns that those killers outside are actually cops, looking to take out Bishop before he can testify that there are dirty cops in Detroit!

Where's RoboCop when we need him??!!

"At Least They Aren't Remaking This Classic!"

I apologize, I've never seen the original version written & directed by John Carpenter from the 70s, so I am unable to compare and contrast the two films.

How Dare You Not Watch Our Version!

That said, I've watched this film on two different occasions.

I've enjoyed the film both times.

It's tightly scripted, well-acted by an impressive cast that also includes Brian Dennehy, John Leguizamo and Maria Bello.

Someday I Will Voice An Animated Sloth And Become More Famous Than All Of You!!

It's a thriller that ratchets up the suspense with each passing moment.  The only hope the precinct has of survival is to arm the prisoners and work together to stay alive.

Of course, cops and robbers don't exactly trust each other, so it's an uneasy alliance at best.

Add to that the layer of intrigue by having the cops as the ones on the outside attempting to kill everyone inside, and you've got a pretty gripping tale.

It's a B movie that doesn't attempt to do anything but entertain the audience and tell a decent story.

On that note, it succeeds brilliantly.


Final Grade:  B

Would I Watch It Again?  Yes, it's entertaining and clips by at a decent pace.

Would I Purchase It?  I've had it on my wish list for almost a decade now.  Perhaps someday I will pull the trigger?

Too Bad We Can't Do This in D.C. "The Purge"

Some future...

The Story:

In the not-too-distant future, apparently the government has deemed that for a 12 hour period, there will be no Emergency Services provided.  No fire, police or medical.  Want revenge?  Go get it. If it's illegal, it's okay!  This process has successfully reduced crime to almost nothing, poverty is nearly gone.  Apparently the haves get rid of the have nots on this night.  The Sandin family is one of the haves, but when their son takes pity on a bleeding stranger, they are about to be under siege by those celebrating The Purge, and will face death unless they give the man back to be executed.

Well, that was creepy!

Ethan Hawke is the star of the film, and probably the only recognizable actor in the film.  He's the dad, and he just so happens to sell security systems so that people can feel safe on this one night of the year.

The movie is written and directed by  James DeMonaco, who wrote the excellent film, The Negotiator.

Apparently, Ethan Hawke and DeMonaco are great friends, or possibly in cahoots with one another with a production company, because Hawke is in nearly everything that he's worked on since 2005.

It's good to have friends in the business!

This movie was seemingly sold as a low-budget horror movie.  I would disagree with that genre and say it trends more towards thriller/suspense than horror.  Oh, there's blood and violence but not like what you get in the usual horror flick.

While the movie is pretty good, and has a tendency to ramp up the suspense as the film goes along, there were some things I didn't totally agree with, artistically speaking.

The main one: plunging the house into darkness.

Yes, I understand why they did it, but if that is the case, you really need to make the film still visible to the audience.

Get creative with lighting, or have emergency lights that can create shadows without plunging 90% of the screen into black.

That's not mood lighting, that's just poor planning.

From the looks of it, there's already a sequel in the works. 

I'm not too terribly surprised, when you can make a low-budget suspense/thriller for a buck, you get a great return on your investment.

Final Grade: B-/C+ range... again, they were on to something, just some of the choices didn't work that great for me.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I think I'm good seeing it once, but I'll be back for the sequel.