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Geek For E!

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Movie Review – “Snitch”

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Interesting thing about Snitch is that the following quote which is directly from the movie, sums up the plot in a nice package.

Chase the drugs, catch the players. Chase the money, catch the King Pin.

Snitch is an interesting movie in that it’s not an action movie in the standard sense of the word “action”. It’s a slow build up to the finale. It builds on raw emotion as you watch how far a father will go to save his wrongfully imprisoned son. And when the “action” actually takes place it’s a jarring wake-up to a reality that is to true in today’s world.

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson plays John Matthews a blue collar worker who owns a shipping company in Missouri. His ex-wife Sylvie Collins (Melina Kanakaredes) is doing her best at trying to raise their son Jason (Rafi Gavron). Jason’s world gets flipped upside down when he’s arrested in a DEA drug sting after a package containing Ecstasy arrives to his home. The DEA is willing to cut Jason’s sentence in half if he snitches on other sellers, however the only person Jason knows is his friend Craig – who happened to already cut a deal with the DEA.

Willing to do whatever he can to get his son out of jail and get the sentence cut to as short a time as possible, John meets with Joanne Keeghan (Susan Sarandon) and Agent Cooper (Barry Pepper) to make a deal – John will go undercover and get a “big fish” to help his son. Knowing that he has ex-cons working for him, John looks for one that will help him with getting into the “drug world” in hopes of landing a big enough catch that the DEA will work with him. Daniel James (Jon Bernthal) is an ex-con that ran the streets with Malik (Michael K. Williams); Daniel is trying to move on with his family and get away from that world and lifestyle while Malik is running the show with the street dealers – both used to know each other from running in the same gang years ago.

After a trial run in which John and Daniel are ambushed by a cartel run by Juan Carlos ‘El Topo’ Pintera (Benjamin Bratt), we learn that Malik and ‘El Topo’ work together as they are part of the same supply chain. Eventually John is brought in by ‘El Topo’ to run the cash the receive from Malik into Mexico and the DEA want their top prize in this war against drugs.

Chase the drugs, catch the players. Chase the money, catch the King Pin.

So what did I think of Snitch? Read after the break to find out….

Grade: B-

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A Newbie’s guide to A Good Day To Die Hard

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A Good Day To Die Hard is the fifth installment if the Die Hard series.  And I’m probably the only American that hasn’t seen any of the earlier films.  All I know is “Yippee-ki-yay” and Alan Rickman.  I know, I’m a bad reviewer; 10 points from Hufflepuff and all that.  But in the interest of making lemonade out of my lack of knowledge, here I am, tapping away.

For anyone else that has been living under a rock since 1988, card-carrying badass John McClane (that’d be Bruce Willis y’all) finally decides that he’s kicked enough American badguy tuchas and heads to Russia to track down his estranged son Jack (played by Jai Courtney, Spartacus).  But there’s a problem — isn’t there always? — Jack is in prison.  But surprise; Jack’s actually a CIA operative whose orders are to rescue former Russian mobster Komarov (Sebastian Koch), a man who has a file that is very important to US Intelligence.  But Komarov won’t go without his daughter Irina (Yuliya Snigir).  Meanwhile mobster baddies are breathing down their neck.  Guess who steps in to help sonny-boy?

Do you need to know anything about the earlier films before you see A Good Day To Die Hard?  Nope, not at all.  Did I like it?  Yippee-ki-YES.

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Movie Review: Beautiful Creatures

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Boy meets girl.  Boy falls for girl.  Girl falls for boy.  There’s a deep, dark secret that makes their love dangerous.  Much moping and emo-ness ensues for four overlong books.  Sound familiar?  Well, this time it’s different.  Because in the Caster Chronicles the super-secret is held by the girl, not the guy.  And the emo mopey is done by the guy, not the girl.  I know, right?  It’s like it’s all brand new.  It’s like Twilight, if the dude is the one acting like a chick.

But the movie Beautiful Creatures has something the Caster Chronicles series of books — and “that other series” — don’t have; a sly bit of fun and snarky self-aware leads.  Oh, and casting Oscar winners Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson and Viola Davis as supporting characters doesn’t hurt either.  Beautiful Creatures is simply popcorn fodder that goes down smooth.

Trying to figure out if Beautiful Creatures is something that you’ll want to watch, or something that’ll make you roll your eyes?  Well, it all depends on what you’re looking for.

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Movie Review – Bullet to the Head

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Stallone won’t go away…and that’s a good thing because Bullet to the Head is one of his best outings yet! Bullet delivers a combination of action and fun – and just like that time you put your peanut butter with my chocolate – it works. Based on Alexis Nolent’s French graphic novel Du Plomb Dans La Tete, Director Walter Hill manages to bring an interesting take on the “buddy” pictures we’ve seen before yet modernize it for today’s audience with characters and plot that make you feel invested till the end.

But you want to know what I liked about Bullet to the Head because, well, that’s why you’re here. So here you go…

Grade: B+

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Movie Review: Warm Bodies

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With Warm Bodies, director Jonathan Levine (50/50) takes on the novel by  Isaac Marion, a zombie-genre favorite (Marion’s prequel novella, The New Hunger, was just released as an e-book).  Warm Bodies the film gives just enough of a spin on current zombie mythology to keep things fresh, but keeps enough “zombie-ness” to please genre fans.  This mashup of love story, zombie movie and Shakespeare send-up could find a wide audience.  It’s a quirky, fun film that doesn’t take itself too seriously and yet still delivers a few Deep Thoughts about life, and how we live it.  Not too shabby for a film relegated to the dreaded February dumping ground.

Zombie “R” (it’s the only part of his name he still remembers) does the same thing every day; eat, shamble, stare vacantly at his surroundings.  He also likes to pick up random items that spark something in him; sunglasses, books, a snowglobe.  His “house”, an abandoned airplane, is littered with things he’s collected.  But one day as he’s searching for food (read: living humans), he meets living girl Julie.  He’s drawn to her and wants to keep her safe.  But is that him, or the brains of Julie’s boyfriend (that R just ate) talking?  And R isn’t the only one changing….

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Movie Review: Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters

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You know the story of how it begins…two kids left in the wood on their own. Lost, tired, and hungry they stumble across a house made of gingerbread and candy. The Witch who lives there captures and tortures them to eventually try and  eat them. Using her street smarts, Gretel breaks free of her chains and frees her brother Hansel who was being forced to fatten up and eat as much sweets as possible. They team up to destroy the Witch by pushing her into the oven and slow watch her roast away and burn. We’ve read/heard this Fairy Tale for years. But what happens after they kill the Witch and escape back into the woods and society? This is the question that “Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters” attempts to answer.

What did I think of H&G:WH? Well since you asked nicely I’ll tell you as I write a letter to the cast and crew with my thoughts. Read on why don’t ya!

Grade: F (for epic failure)

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Movie Review: Zero Dark Thirty

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Intense.  But that’s what you’d expect from the Director of Best Picture winner ‘The Hurt Locker.’  ZDT attempts to add an even more human and inhumane aspect to the equation.  It’s a thought invoking and exhausting journey in the tenacious pursuit of America’s most wanted man, Osama Bin Laden.  I liked it, I didn’t love it.  Does the Academy have it right?  B-

CIA Analyst Maya, Zero Dark Thirty

'Maya' - Zero Dark Thirty

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Movie Review: Not Fade Away

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That ain’t workin’.  That’s the way you do it.  You play the guitar on the MTV.  But back in the 60s, long before music videos claimed the airwaves, Rock-n-Roll was claiming the hearts and minds of the Baby Boomers.  As the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and others climbed up the charts, countless teens decided they were going to try for a piece of stardom.  Not Fade Away looks at a group of teens and lets us follow them through their successes and failures.  It’s a moving look at how the 60s influenced not only the young, but the generation before them.  And it shows that David Chase (The Sopranos, Northern Exposure) can easily make the leap from TV to film.  Y’know, if there was ever any doubt.

Not Fade Away is an intriguing look at the changes that America went through in the 60s, from the vantage point of teenagers going through their own changes.  It reminds me of another well done film about that era, Tony Goldwyn’s A Walk On The Moon.  Except this time instead of a stir-crazy housewife, it’s stir-crazy teens that want to reach beyond their seemingly dead-end lives.  Both give a real-life vantage point look at the tumult and creativity that was going on at the time, and Not Fade Away manages to open itself up past the lead actors and take a peek at what that youthquake must have been like for the “other side”; their parents.

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Movie Review: Parental Guidance

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Okay, it’s Christmastime.  Everyone’s running amok in the malls, or avoiding their embarassingly drunk family members (I know that’s not just me.)  You’re trying to figure out what to see at the multiplex for two or more hours of blessed silence.  So I’ll be brief; Parental Guidance should be your last choice.  All in all, it’s a sweet little film that tries hard to rise above it’s desperate slapstick and rehashed jokes, but fails in the attempt.  Sure, it cleans itself off during the last third of the film, but by then the damage has been done.

I really wanted to like this movie: Bette Midler!  Billy “I Own The Oscar Show” Crystal!  Marisa Tomei, who is under-appreciated comic gold in my humble opinion.  And yes, these stars do wonderful work here.  But it’s like gilding a dandelion; why bother adding to something you don’t want around anyway?

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Review in the Round – “Jack Reacher”

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Ever see a movie with a friend? Of course you have. Share your thoughts and see if you can come to a collective agreement on what you saw, how it flowed and how good or bad it was? Probably every weekend, right? We at Geek For E call that a ‘Review In The Round’ and this week it’s “Jack Reacher” with Rock & Alex.  Overall Rating: A-

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