If You've Seen One "Jason Bourne" Film, You Really Have Seen Them All

Jason Bourne (2016)  

Rated PG-13

Starring Matt Damon, Tommy Lee Jones, Alicia Vikander, Vincent Cassell, Julia Stiles,

Directed by Paul Greengrass

The Story:

Jason Bourne (Damon) is back again, and he's going to kill the people that turned him into a deadly assassin with a past he cannot remember.

Wait, stop me if you've seen this before...

Yes, the 4th Damon entry into the Bourne franchise arrives in 2016, the year of long dormant sequels to franchises we all assumed were dead and buried.

And yes, Greengrass and Damon reunite to bring the troubled past of Jason Bourne once again to viewers everywhere.

As usual, I'm really indifferent to these films.

I've seen them all, and ironically, the most coherent and best of the bunch is the one that had Jeremy Renner as the star.

So there.

: )

Otherwise, they are literally a forgettable mashup of spy thriller cat and mouse.

Stylish, but utterly forgettable.

Much like Bourne's past.

At least Julia Stiles finally found a way to get out of this franchise...

Ooops.

Spoiler.

;)

Final Grade: C

Back In Business..."Mechanic: Resurrection"

Mechanic: Resurrection  (2016) 

Rated R

Starring Jason Statham, Jessica Alba, Tommy Lee Jones, Michelle Yeoh, Sam Hazeldine,

Directed by Dennis Gansel

The Story:

Arthur Bishop (Statham) is living alone, and peacefully, thanks to faking his own death. However, someone knows who he is, and what he can do. So he must kill 3 people, all to look like accidents, if he has any hope of returning to his private life and non-murderous ways.  Bishop is going to kill a few more people than that by the time he gets his revenge...

I'm a sucker for a good Jason Statham film.

I wasn't really expecting a sequel to 2011's The Mechanic.

That itself was a reboot/re-imagining of the 1970s Charles Bronson film of the same name that saw Bishop, a notoriously ingenious hitman, train a young apprentice to seemingly take his place, but realizing the young apprentice actually wanted to kill the master, well, as you can see, Bishop survived that encounter and here we are.

The trailers looked like the movie would be a good time for Statham fans, and since The Transporter series foolishly jettisoned their leading man to start over, at least this was a franchise for Statham and his legion of fans to fall back on.

Thankfully, it delivered everything it promised.

Beautiful locations, exciting stunt set pieces and good, old-fashioned Jason Statham butt-kickery.

That's enough to keep this fan happy.

:)

The fights were good, the premise was sound, and it kept my interest from start to finish.

And yes, the elaborate swimming pool scene is very well done and worth the price of admission.

 Final Grade: B

This Movie Seems Vaguely Familiar... "Criminal"

Criminal (2016)

Rated R

Starring Kevin Costner, Ryan Reynolds, Gary Oldman, Tommy Lee Jones, Jordi Molla, Gal Gadot,

Directed by Ariel Vroman

The Story:

CIA Operative Bill Pope (Reynolds) is trying to stop "The Dutchman" (Molla) from his diabolical plot to do something bad. But then he winds up dead. Or at least, mostly dead. So his mind, memories and abilities are transferred into death row inmate Jerico Stewart (Costner) for him to complete the mission. Except, he doesn't really want to.

Hilarity ensues.

Okay, maybe not so much that last part, but lots of explosions, death and swearing abound during the next 2 hours.

Remember earlier this year, I reviewed a little movie called Self/Less ?

Of course you don't, I barely remember it either.

But what I do remember is that a millionaire who didn't want to die transferred his memory into the younger body of... wait for it.....

 Ryan Reynolds!

Nope, you can't make this stuff up.

So it's almost like an indirect sequel.

:)

However, what's really criminal is that this amount of star power is unleashed in such a...

bland ? mediocre ? meh ?

type of action film.

Costner Christian Bales grunts his way through the movie. I guess it shows how angry he is?

Either way, the movie sort of wears you down while it chugs along to the inevitable showdown at the end.

However, it's everything that the film lacks with tension, drama and importance that just gives us a bland thriller, through no real fault of any of the actors.

Final Grade: C...maybe even a C+

"Double Jeopardy"... Legal Thriller Or TV Game Show?

Double Jeopardy (1999)

Rated R

Starring Ashley Judd, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Greenwood

Directed by Bruce Beresford

The Story:

Libby (Judd) is sentenced to prison for the murder of her husband, Nick (Greenwood). She swears she's innocent and has been framed. As she rots away in prison, she discovers that not only was she framed, that Nick is actually alive. Once she is paroled, she escapes from her parole officer (Jones) and begins a mad dash across country to find her husband and retrieve her son. Staying one step ahead of the law and getting her son back is Libby's frantic mission.

What if "The Fugitive" was a girl?

That would be an easy way to sum up this film, especially when you include Tommy Lee Jones in the cast.

The difference is the spin of adding the child into the mix.

If it weren't for Libby wanting to see her son, she would have served her time and went along with her life after prison.

However, her son kept her drive and passionate because she missed him, and knew something was wrong.

Add in one seemingly innocent phone call when she hears him say, "Daddy", the film turns into her mission of revenge.

Great job by all three of the lead actors who elevate the story above just a regular thriller.

Worth a look if it's been ages, or never.


Final Grade: B-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I do own this one. It's been over a decade since I had last seen it, but still holds up.

Time For A Change... "Batman Forever"

Batman Forever (1995)

Rated PG-13 for language/violence

Starring: Val Kilmer, Tommy Lee Jones, Jim Carrey, Nicole Kidman, Chris O'Donnell

Directed by Joel Schumacher

The Story:

Batman (Kilmer) is faced with a two-pronged attack from Two Face (Jones) who believes Batman caused the courtroom accident that scarred his face, and the Riddler (Carrey) who used to work for Wayne and has invented a device that can steal information from the mind.  With the death of Dick Grayson's (O'Donnell) parents at the hands of Two Face, he becomes a ward of Bruce Wayne, and will attempt to take his place fighting crime alongside Batman. 

Quite a bit to jam pack into this tale!

And if that wasn't enough, add Nicole Kidman in as a love interest, and you have a bloated mess of a film.

This was the first entry in the Bat-chise that I bothered with.

So again, I don't remember if it was Keaton or Burton that kept me away, but with both gone, I came aboard.

Bored.

It was okay for its time.

Again, no rose-colored glasses from this guy, I actually have memories of seeing (and owning!) this one on VHS.

Egads.

Who was the bigger ham, Carrey or Jones?

O'Donnell is close to insufferable most of the time as Robin.

Kilmer does the best he can with the role and apparently would have been back for a sequel except for scheduling conflicts.

Apparently DC has little qualms about recasting the star of their franchise...

The cheese factor was amped up... the cast was amped up.

There was nowhere for this franchise to go...

But down!

Final Grade:  C- maybe a C

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Nearly 20 years have passed since I last saw this one.  I would assume a similar, or longer time, will pass before I do this again.

A Movie Review You May Or May Not Refuse..."The Family"

The Family (2013)
Rated R for Language and Violence

Starring Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Dianna Agron, John D'Leo, Tommy Lee Jones

Directed and written by Luc Besson

The Story:

Fred Blake (DeNiro) and his family (Pfeiffer, Agron and D'Leo) are a Mafia family in witness protection who keep getting relocated by Agent Stansfield (Jones) because the Mafia is gunning (literally!) for them.  But while you can take the family out of New York and into a sleepy French town, they don't exactly leave their instincts behind with how they deal with problems.  As Fred begins penning his memoirs, the family he snitched on is closing in on finding their location.

Another little gem from Besson, but it starts off a little slower than many of his films.

However, it remains infinitely watchable throughout, and DeNiro plays a mob guy better than pretty much anyone at this point in his career.

Don't get me started on how surreal it becomes late in the film when he attends a screening of Goodfellas to comment on how realistic that movie is.

Am I Talking About Me?

:)

Stroke of genius.

As I've mentioned previously, it's great to see Pfeiffer back on the screen.  It seems like years went by with nothing from her, and suddenly she's popping up all over the place.  She's a great actress, and it's great to have her back.

Tommy Lee Jones is great, as always, if a bit underused in the film.

However, I am thankful that they didn't use the tried and true Agent is a snitch angle and kept him on the straight and narrow trying to protect his assignment.

While I cannot condone the methods that Frank and his family use for solving problems, many of them would actually cause stress levels to drop and customer satisfaction to rise if they were practices used by everyday consumers.

:)

Final Grade: C+/B- area

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Not a purchase, but I could watch it again in the future with no problem.

A Ride Worth Catching..."The Sunset Limited"

The Sunset Limited (2011)
Rated R for language

Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Samuel L. Jackson

Directed by Tommy Lee Jones

The Story:

Black (Jackson) stops White (Jones) from jumping in front of the Sunset Limited train.  Feeling responsible, White keeps Black  at his apartment overnight.  The two engage in a heated debate about life and death, God and nothingness.

If you want to see anything other than two of the greatest actors from this generation debate and fight about their beliefs, this is not the movie for you.

That's all you are going to get.

Based on the play, the set is Black's dingy apartment.

Aside from occasional noise from the neighborhood and a few distinct visual clues from a nearby window...

The movie rests solely on the shoulders of the two leads.

Hey Wait...Weren't You In Captain America?

However, when you've got your cast as Jones and Jackson, you're in pretty good hands.

Sometimes the dialogue or delivery seems a bit...off... maybe unnatural.  Not sure if it's just the way it was scripted, or maybe an attempt by either actor to bring the tiredness of the fight to their delivery... but those occasions aren't many.

Naturally, when it comes to believers and non-believers, nothing is going to get solved, and no minds are going to be changed by watching a movie.

The ending is ambiguous.

The only thing that is certain, White lived to see another day.  Whether or not his mind was changed or would he try to kill himself again...

?

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor:  Not a purchase, but I could see watching it again a year or two  down the road.

10 Days That Shaped the Future of the World... "Emperor"

What is the price for peace?

The Story:

It's 1945 and the Japanese have surrendered.  General MacArthur (Tommy Lee Jones) has 10 days to report back to Washington whether Emperor Hirohito was responsible for starting the war and should be tried (and executed) as a war criminal or is he should be spared.  MacArthur turns to General Fellers (Matthew Fox), an expert on Japanese culture to do the research.  What follows is Fellers race against time to find out if the Emperor was involved or was forced, but Fellers has a secret of his own that will also occupy his time and efforts.

This was better than I thought it would be.

Based on the true story, I have no idea how much of course is fact or how far the truth is stretched, but it's not bad.

Fellers secret: there was a girl he loved in Japan, and he wanted to find out if she was alive.  It turns out, he may have also done some behind the scenes planning attempting to ensure her survival in Japan.

The flashbacks to his life pre-war in Japan, and his quest to find her were the slow parts for me in this movie.

It was much more fascinating to see what kind of timetable the Generals were working on to wrap up everything for the President.

In the end, the decisions are based on sound logic and evidence that will never be known.

It's hard to say if those choices were right or wrong, but the importance of the occupation and rebuilding were hinging on that very thing, so the decision to let the Emperor live was the correct one to make.

Regardless of the Emperor's starting of the war, he was directly responsible for ending it before anymore blood was shed, and should be recognized for that.


Tommy Lee Jones carries his MacArthur with much swagger and bravado, sadly he is hardly in the movie.  The bulk of the movie is Fox attempting to find out what happened to the girl, and questioning officials on what the Emperor did and did not know.

Director Peter Webber balances out the two interweaving tales rather well.  When I felt the story was dragging under the search for the girl, he would bring it back with a shot of Tommy Lee Jones to recharge the movie. :)  I'm not familiar with his other 2 feature films, but so far I'd say he's a solid, if not spectacular, director.

The movie is definitely worth a look when you get the chance.

Final Grade: B

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I would have no problem watching it again, but I won't be out actively trying to purchase it.

If You Need Protection, This is the "Man of the House" That You Need!

Set the pizza on the porch, take two steps back, put your hands behind your head!

The Story:

Six college cheerleaders witness a murder.  Lucky for them, Texas Ranger Roland Sharp (Tommy Lee Jones) takes them into protective custody for their own good.  He has to make sure that the murderer doesn't target the little ladies...

If he doesn't kill them first!

Tommy Lee Jones.

Perhaps the most criminally underrated comedic actor of all time.  The man does deadpan unlike anyone else.

Unlike Leslie Nielsen who spun it into a rejuvenating career boost, Jones just slips under the radar with his comedic timing, Men in Black being really his only other foray into comedy.

His timing is impeccable, and his delivery is pitch perfect.  He delivers a joke, matter-of-factly, and that makes it all the funnier.  He has a few scenes opposite Cedric the Entertainer, and he gets to play the perfect straight man foil to the comedic counterpart.

Otherwise, the storyline is nothing you probably haven't seen cobbled together before.

The Ranger will teach the cheerleaders a few things.  The girls will likewise teach the Ranger a life lesson or two about women, including how to better deal with his teenaged daughter.

Everyone goes home happy, including the audience.

And that's why this is just a fun movie to watch.

Currently available to stream instantly on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A-

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Already own it, and it's one that if I'm channel surfing and it's on, I normally put the remote down.

Quest for Oscar... "Lincoln"

A movie so inaccurately named, it's not even funny.

The Story:

President Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) has just been re-elected.  The Civil War is still raging, and Lincoln is on a mission.  He needs to pass the 13th Amendment, abolishing slavery, once and for all.  He fears that while the Emancipation Proclamation was a great idea, it was issued during a time of war, and once war ends, which seemed to be imminent, slavery would simply return.  He had to convince Congress to get behind the measure and push it through...by any means necessary.

Seriously, this movie should have been called... "Amendment" or... really, anything other than Lincoln.

The truth of the matter, the movie really deals with the political mechanics of getting the Amendment pushed through Congress.

I cannot vouch for the validity of the claims, but it seemed like Lincoln's goal was to make sure the Amendment went through before any chance of peace with the South was broached.  He knew the war was coming to an end, and wanted to ensure slavery was abolished legally forever.

By far, the interest and intrigue comes in the movie by Lincoln's dealing with Congress and his cabinet.  And Congress dealing with each other and Lincoln.

Tommy Lee Jones once again takes center stage and you lean to him to see the real story unfold.

In fact, the weakest part of the story, or at least for me, the part I really could care less about was Lincoln and his family.  When the focus shifts to Mary Todd Lincoln (Sally Field) or worse still, Robert Lincoln (Joseph Gordon-Levett)... for me the movie shifted into snooze control for a few moments.

But when it shifts back into the debates, the movie fires on almost all cylinders.

The other issue with the movie: Spielberg didn't know when to say "cut".

He had the perfect ending for the film... but because he slapped the name "Lincoln" on it, he felt the need to follow through with the assassination.

Mistake.

It wasn't needed, nor was it executed (no pun intended) very well.  There was nothing added by any scene after Lincoln walked down the hallway when the movie SHOULD have ended.

I'm giving the movie a final grade of B-, and I'm being generous because there were easily enough things that didn't click to drop this to " C level ".

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: Zero interest in needing to see this again.

"Hope Springs" Eternal... Or Does It?

How do you put the pep back in your step after 31 years of marriage?

The Story:

A married couple, Kay and Frank (Meryl Streep and Tommy Lee Jones) have been married for 31 years.  Their life is...very routine.  Kay (not Tommy Lee Jones...causing MiB confusion) isn't all that happy though.  So she makes plans to go see a couples therapist (Steve Carrell) in the very distant city of Hope Springs to see if they can recapture the spark, or if the marriage is actually over.


Okay, at some point I need to acknowledge that I am not the biggest fan of Meryl Streep.  She's a good actress, but I would have to say she is easily the most overrated actress in the history of cinema (modern).  Give the roles to someone else, I bet they could do a good job too....

That said, she won me over here with her performance of a wife who is in love with the idea of being in love with her husband.

Conversely, Tommy Lee Jones is perhaps the most underrated actor in the history of cinema (all time) and he simply owns any and all parts he has ever inhabited.  Even movies I haven't fully enjoyed often are salvaged by his appearance... thinking No Country for Old Men or something like that.

Finally, the third actor in essentially a 3 person movie (all other characters are superfluous and irrelevant in the overall scheme of things..) is Steve Carell.  I've yet to figure out where he fits on the actor scale, but let's just say that his dramatic, ie: not zany, turns do not go unnoticed nor unappreciated.

You will believe he is a marriage therapist.

But essentially this is a story about love, and how that can be taken for granted and slowly erode into an auto-pilot functioning if you're not careful.

Seriously, watch the choreography between Kay and Frank just in the morning kitchen scenes at home and imagine that this has been happening for 30 years... you can FEEL it!

3.5 out of 5 stars!

The Third Time's a Charmer... "Men in Black 3"

Proof that sometimes you can go home again...

The Plot:

A dangerous alien breaks out of prison, goes back in time, and kills Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones), thus changing the future.  Only his partner, J (Will Smith) seems to remember the way things were supposed to be.  That leads him to time jump back to 1969 to save his partner (Josh Brolin)...oh yeah, and the entire world!

Some franchises churn out films to cash in on their name brand.  Some wait, and present films that help remind us of why we fell in love with the original movie in the first place.  If you had any misgivings on seeing the 3rd film because the 2nd film didn't live up to the original Men in Black, set those apprehensions aside.

This third entry into the series is worth a viewing, and you'll likely enjoy it enough to add it to your DVD library.

For the most part Tommy Lee Jones is not in the movie.  But Agent K is never for one moment NOT reminding you of Jones.  Brolin does a dead on channeling of Jones' Agent K, it's impressive.  He has the instant rapport and chemistry with Will Smith that this movie just unfolds as a nice trip down memory lane.

The movie spends a majority of time, back in time.  That allows for Will Smith to again play the fish out of water that worked so well for the first time.  Yeah, this time he knows all about aliens, but the 60s?  That's a whole different animal.

Not sure that we'll ever see a 4th Men in Black movie.  But that's okay.  This brings a nice closure to the series, and goes out with a bang, not a whimper for the franchise.


One of the best films of the year, that got overshadowed in a busy summer at the box office.  If you enjoyed the first movie, you should enjoy this one as well.

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 36 ~ Captain America: The First Avenger

Yep, you read the title correctly.

Captain America!

This was the movie that I requested (after the Avengers, natch!) when I was asked at Heroes Con after Iron Man as to what Marvel movie should follow the unprecedented success of Iron Man.

A Captain America movie, set during World War II would be the ideal way to introduce Cap to the Marvel Movie Universe.

Directed by Joe Johnston, who has had a long, varied, and not commercially a huge success at the box office... this and Thor showed that Marvel was moving forward... but at what cost?

Naturally, when the box office receipts were tallied... both were considered successes...until cast in the shadows of Iron Man, Spider-Man, or the Batman franchise.

However, the groundwork to achieve the Avengers was cast in stone, and the world is now a better place.

: )

Of course, when Marvel announced that they had cast Chris Evans as Captain America, I was skeptical.  For starters...that's the wrong hair color.  Plus, he had already made an excellent Johnny Storm in the Fantastic Four franchise.

Say what you want, his Torch was great in those films.

That said, I am a huge fan of Chris Evans.  Have been ever since Not Another Teen Movie (which sadly just missed the countdown!).  Most of the time, if he is in the movie, I will definitely give it a whirl.  Heck, he was the best part of the movie The Losers as well, sticking with a comic book theme.

So anyway, Chris totally won me over in his portrayal of Steve Rogers.  From 98 pound weakling to Super Soldier, he handled both parts adeptly.  The two scenes that had me sold on this movie were both during his training:  Capturing the flag, and jumping on the grenade.

That IS Steve Rogers.

At that point, any doubts I had were gone.

Evans was surrounded by a wonderful supporting cast, including Tommy Lee Jones, quoted in the Facebook intro.  Who am I kidding?  I was sold on the film when I heard that commercial.

: )

I'm looking forward to the sequel, and very interested to see what they come up with next.


Tomorrow: A movie that Steve Rogers would have missed seeing in theaters while he was frozen on ice!

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 62 ~ Men in Black

Welcome to today's installment.  It was actually posted yesterday, but we used our "flashy thingy" to make you forget all about it.

And we're off...

Welcome to a Comic Book Movie that you didn't realize was based on a comic book.  At least some of you didn't.

You're welcome.

Who says those "kids books" don't make for some entertaining flicks?

Anyway, this is a really fun film that still holds up today.  The sequel was okay... not quite great, but it wasn't a waste of time.  I'm looking forward to the third one.

We could discuss all day how awesome Will Smith is playing Will Smith, but to me, the real revelation in this movie is Tommy Lee Jones as Kay.  Up to this point, aside from his turn to crazy in Under Siege (See # 78), he was a dramatic actor.

Here, he played the perfect straight man, which was somewhere just this side of Leslie Nielsen in Airplane of the Naked Gun movies.  His delivery and pacing throughout are simply magical.  He buys into the part so much, you get swept up along for the ride, much like Jay.

As for the director, Barry Sonnenfeld will be back on this list one more time, with my favorite movie that he's worked on.

Better than Men In Black?

It must be Wild Wild West.

Not quite, but we'll get back to Sonnefeld later.

Now, if you could just look directly at this light...



>>   FLASH  <<

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 70 ~ The Fugitive

To every armchair movie critic out there (myself included) who says:

"They need to stop remaking old television shows into movies...."

I give you: The Fugitive.

The exception that proves the rule.

Because for every 100 that suck, one comes along that makes you giddy and say, "Now THAT was a movie!"

And so it was with this one.

Andrew Davis, you remember him from Under Siege, decided to come back with a bigger budget and bring Tommy Lee Jones along to chew the scenery again.  This time, he plays a U.S. Marshal who is in hot pursuit of an escaped fugitive, Dr. Richard Kimble.  And if you can read that last sentence without hearing Tommy Lee Jones intone "escaped fugitive, Dr. Richard Kimble" then you are a better man than I am.

Technically, Marshal Gerard is the bad guy of the movie...

And yet...

It's hard to dislike the guy.  I mean, seriously, he's just doing his job.  As he says in the movie when Kimble professes his innocence... "I don't care."

But he will, don't worry.  And that is why the audience has a hard time rooting against him, while naturally rooting for the man we all know is innocent.

This tour de force of a role also earned Tommy Lee Jones an Oscar, as he stole the movie right out from under the hands of Harrison Ford.

So yes, onto Harrison Ford.  Andrew Davis had to give up something from Under Siege, so he traded in Seagal for Ford.  Good trade.  This is one of those roles where Ford excels best in:

He gets to act, while at the center of spectacular stunt pieces.

No offense to the guy, I love me some Harrison Ford... but the roles where he is a talking head... or just not involved in the action are often the snoozers in his career.  Call it typecasting, I don't care, I call them like I see them.

Yeah, this was a great movie, and while the sequel wasn't nearly as good, it was an admirable effort to bank on the likability of Tommy Lee Jones.  He just needed a Kimble that was directly in proportion to his screen presence.

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 78 ~ Under Siege

Ah, don't let that hat and smile fool you, Steven Seagal will kill you, 8 ways to Sunday.  Welcome to today's installment, Under Siege.

The premise:

It's Die Hard...on a boat!

I'm pretty sure that was the marketing pitch, and with the success of Die Hard, this, and countless other pretenders to the throne were launched.  In a twisted sense of Hollywood irony though, several of them were pretty good on their own right.

Under Siege falls in that category.

To say it is Seagal's best movie in his career (should I quote "career" on Seagal?) is a limb I'm willing to climb out on.  The fact that it's the Seagal movie where he has the least amount of screen time...

I chalk that up to coincidence!

Instead, we get a boatload of terrorists out to steal the warheads from the Navy.  Led by the scenery chewing antics of Gary Busey and Tommy Lee Jones, Seagal really did just pop in as required to save the day.

However, the formula worked perfectly.  Seagal played his part to perfection, but didn't overpower the movie with how awesome he is, which is what grinds most of his other movies to a halt.

That, and the fact they were really cheesy. : )

His other best film, Above the Law, was helmed by Andrew Davis, so perhaps he was onto something with how to harness the talents of Seagal to perfection?

Mr. Davis will be back on the countdown later, harnessing the power of another great performer, pushing him all the way to an Academy Award.

But that's for another day.