Not Quite The A-Team..."Soldiers Of Fortune"

Soldiers of Fortune (2012)

Rated R

Starring Christian Slater, Sean Bean, Ving Rhames, Dominic Monaghan, Colm Meaney, James Cromwell,

Directed by Maxim Korostyshevsky

The Story:

Craig McCenzie (Slater), fresh from his stint in the military is asked to train a bunch of wealthy men on how to be soldiers. At the end of their training, they will be inserted in an area near a war zone, but will totally be safe. The thrill of the hunt and all that...

What could possibly go wrong.

Spoiler Alert: Sean Bean finally lives through a movie.  :)

In all seriousness, this is a pure B movie that takes a bunch of familiar faces and lets them go out and play war.

Slater leads the cast as the military mind who whips these rich dudes into an actually effective military team.

Naturally, even before they arrive at their location, things hit the fan pretty quickly and not only do they have to save themselves, they end up needing to save a local village from being decimated further by the evil-doers that have taken control of the island.

It's the Expendables meets Hard Target with a touch of The Magnificent Seven thrown in for good measure.

At least they had lofty goals, and seemed to enjoy themselves while making it.

Nothing to rush out and see, but not a complete waste of time either.

Final Grade: C

Your Review, Should You Choose To Read It..."Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation"

Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation (2015)

Rated PG-13

Starring Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Jeremy Renner, Ving Rhames, Rebecca Ferguson, Sean Harris, Alec Baldwin

Written and Directed by Christopher McQuarrie

The Story:

CIA Director Hunley (Baldwin) convinces the Senate to disband the Impossible Mission force because they are reckless and are doing more harm than good. While this is happening, Ethan Hunt (Cruise) realizes that there is a sinister agency known as The Syndicate out to destroy the IM Force. He is now alone, but calls in those he trusts the most (Pegg, Rhames) to help him track the mysterious Isla Faust (Ferguson) and stop the Syndicate once and for all.

Over the past few years, the Mission Impossible movies have been getting better and better.

I prefer this series to the Bourne franchise, and I hate to say it, but even Bond is beginning to take a backseat to the IMF.

Sacrilege, I know.

I think a lot of it may be in the handling of the spies themselves.

Whereas Bourne and Bond are unstoppable machines that can pretty much do anything unassisted (gadgets notwithstanding), Hunt relies on the teammates to help him overcome the odds and win the day.

This allows others to shine in the series and make Cruise look good, but vulnerable as our main character.

Twists and turns abound, and these movies take on an air of con-man/heist film in addition to being a spy thriller.

That works for me.

The teamwork required to pull off the elaborate ruse is always a joy, and the addition to Pegg as comic relief has elevated this series nicely.

I enjoyed Ghost Protocol, but I may have to give a tip of the hate to Rogue Nation for being the best of the series.

Like the Fast and Furious franchise, the Mission Impossible series is simply getting better with each installment.

Looking forward to # 6

Final Grade: B+

This Election Day, Vote For "Dave"

Dave (1993)

Rated PG-13

Starring Kevin Kline, Sigourney Weaver, Ving Rhames, Frank Langella, Ben Kingsley,

Directed by Ivan Reitman

The Story:

President Bill Mitchell (Kline) brings in look-alike Dave (Kline), a temp-hire expert to fill in for him during an official function. However, when the real President suffers a stroke in the midst of an affair, Dave is thrust into the position full-time while the Chief of Staff (Langella) figures out what to do. Only a few know the true identity, including a very loyal Secret Service Agent (Rhames). But while it's one thing to fool the public at a one-time function, how do you fool the First Lady (Weaver) and Vice President (Kingsley) among others?

Ivan Reitman directs another light, fun comedy with a bit of a political bite under the surface.

Kline gets to shine as the novice political figurehead who takes his patriotic duty as President very seriously. However, he has a heart of gold, not a politician's heart, so he makes some changes along the way.

This draws suspicion from some, including his "wife".

As Dave continues to prove a popular President, more so than the man he is replacing, the Chief of Staff sees his chance to move into the big chair.

The cast is exceptional from top to bottom, and the humor and politics are as fresh and fun now as they were over 20 years ago.

Regardless of who you choose at the polls today, this movie is a winner!


Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I own it, and while I don't watch it nearly as often as I'd like, this is a charming movie that is really fun to watch, especially during the political season.  Then I can sigh, and wish that Dave was the real deal.

The Touching Tale Of A Girl And Her Dog... "Lilo & Stitch"

Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Rated PG for violence

Starring the voices of Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, Tia Carrere, David Ogden Stiers, Ving Rhames

Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois

The Story:

Experiment 626 (Sanders) is destined for banishmen due to his destructive behavior, but escapes to Earth instead.  Meanwhile on Earth, Lilo (Chase) is having a hard time fitting in, being raised by her sister, Nani (Carrere) who faces the prospect of losing custody of Lilo by the new social worker, Mr. Bubbles (Rhames).  Landing in Hawaii, he is adopted as a dog by Lilo and renamed Stitch.  However, the galactic empire is coming to get Stitch back, dead or alive.

You know those critics that proclaim Frozen as the greatest film in a generation?

Let me offer up 2002's Lilo and Stitch as rebuttal.

Hogwash!

While this came after the Disney renaissance of The Little Mermaid-Lion King era, it more than stands on its own as one of Disney's best efforts at a time when every Pixar movie was a mega-hit and Disney was quickly becoming an afterthought.

Mixing several story modes at first might seem like a jumble, Sanders an DeBlois adeptly weave the tales of:

Galactic Prisoner Escape!
A Girl's First Pet
Custodial Issues
Despair Over Job Issues
Discovering Family

Into a charming, funny, and yes, sometimes even sad, tale that whisks the viewer into Lilo's world and holds you until the end.

Wisely, the movie was not a cutesy musical, but instead relied on Lilo's love of Elvis to provide musical narration for some classic comedy or cinematic narrative moments.

Also, the Hawaiian Roller Coaster original song during the surfing scene is a nice touch, again, a musical number without making the characters burst into song, nicely done.

The voice work is very well done, no distracting celebrity voice to possibly distract from the characters.

The great part about having kids of multiple ages, when you rediscover the good animated fare that you may not have seen for awhile as some of the kids have grown up and moved on.

Nice to see these two again after a few years!

Available for streaming on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I already own it, but I'm glad it's streaming, that's what got it back on the radar!

Read This Review...Or the Bunny Gets It! "Con Air"

He's got the whole world...
In his hands!

The Story:

Ex-Ranger Cameron Poe (Nicolas Cage) gets sent to prison for killing a man in self-defense.  He does his time, and when it's time to go home, he decides to hop a flight on Con-Air, a prison transport.  But not just any transport, this one is moving the worst of the worst, and they just decided to break free.  If Poe has any hope of getting home to see his wife and daughter, he's going to have to save the day.

If I say "popcorn movie", this is the movie that could easily be in the dictionary as the definition.

It's loud.
It's crazy.
It's fun.

In fact, while Cage is playing his best cajun-accented hero, he gets support from some of the best villains ever assembled:

John Malkovich. Danny Trejo. Ving Rhames. Steve Buscemi.

They're chewing up the scenery, and making Poe's life miserable.

Realizing that he has a sense of duty to a friend onboard, as well as a female marshal who will likely be killed if he leaves her alone, Poe passes up an opportunity to leave the plane and plots to save the day from inside the plane.

Luckily, he's got some help on the ground in the form of John Cusack who races to help Poe get to safety.

The movie is fast-paced, written by Scott Rosenberg who also helped Cusack with High Fidelity and went back for Cage once more with Gone in 60 Seconds.

Given that this was the first time Simon West sat in the director's chair, he knocked it out of the park.  He could never have made another movie, and I would have considered him a great one-hit wonder. 

West sort of disappeared, but came roaring back in the last few years with The Mechanic and Expendables 2 last year. 

Welcome back to the Popcorn Movie genre Mr. West, you've been missed!

Yes, I can pop this movie in, anytime and just lose myself in 2 hours of pure adrenaline fun.

It's not a perfect movie...

But it's perfectly fun!

Final Grade: A

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I own it. I love it. I have seen it so many times, I've lost count! :)