Plot: The Quileutes close in on expecting parents Edward and Bella, whose unborn child poses a threat to the Wolf Pack and the towns people of Forks.
Runtime: 1 Hour 57 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 starts as Bella (Stewart) and Edward (Pattinson) finally tie the knot. They bring together friends and family for their celebration before starting their life together. As the couple spend their honeymoon together an unexpected twist happens.
Bella becomes pregnant, something that shouldn’t happen between vampires and humans. This news strikes up a new problem as Jacob (Lautner) and his werewolf pack must face their own pact being destroyed between the two kinds.
Verdict onTwilight Breaking Dawn Part 1
Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 continues the fantasy romance as the couple look to start their lives together. All this before Bella must accept her fate and become a vampire too. There is an unexpected twist in the story after Bella becomes pregnant, only to make things worse for everyone involved.
Splitting the final movie into two has always been a point of discussion, as it can feel like padding to make more money. This first chapter does feel like a lot of padding, where not very much happens for the nearly two-hour runtime. It does the same discussion about whether Bella should be turned into a vampire or not. The battle between vampires and werewolves and the future changing. There is so much nothing going on here, it leaves most of the biggest entertainment to come in the next chapter.
Final Thoughts – Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 feels more like padding before the final film.
Plot: A David and Goliath law drama about a drug-addicted lawyer who takes on a health supply corporation while battling his own personal demons.
Runtime: 1 Hour 40 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Puncture starts when nurse Vicky Rogers (Shaw) gets spiked by an infected needle. This sees her catching HIV and needing to settle with the hospital as she raises her children with the illness. Drug-addicted lawyer Mike Weiss (Evans) and his clean partner Paul Danziger (Kassen) like taking on the bigger cases.
The pair decide to look into the health supply corporation, believing a safer needle is available. They build up a case going against a multi-millionaire company in an attempt to place blame on them for trying to cover up money and improve safety in hospitals.
Verdict on Puncture
Puncture is a drama biography following a drug-addicted lawyer and his partner as they look to take on big pharmaceutical companies. It follows how one must overcome their drug addiction, while the other must hold things together. This dives into the battle to take on the firm and how much the two must risk making a difference.
The movie gets to expose the troubles that have been caused by companies taking shortcuts in medical care. It shows the battle against the odds to prove the problem and change the future. There are elements that focus on self-demons that need fixing in life. Deep down this is about fighting the good fight despite the odds against them.
Final Thoughts – Puncture is a hard-hitting drama about fighting for what is right.
Plot: A guy and girl try to keep their relationship strictly physical, but it’s not long before they learn that they want something more.
Runtime: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: No Strings Attached starts when Adam (Kutcher) and Emma (Portman) meet over the years but never have a relationship. Over another chance meeting, Adam and Emma hook up but Emma isn’t looking for a relationship.
This leads to an unusual offer put forward by Emma, they can just have no-strings sex whenever the other one wants. With an agreement that they go their separate ways if they get too close. The question is whether they can keep this up or not.
Verdict on No Strings Attached
No Strings Attached is a romantic comedy that explores the world of having a casual sex partner. It brings two people together who don’t want a relationship and who find themselves caught up in the middle of one, proving their theory doesn’t always work.
This does look to highlight a new way relationships work, but usually misses most of the comedy. The star of the show is Jake Johnson who gets all the funny lines and delivers them. Otherwise, this movie does feel like a lot of already dated comedy, while trying to bring to life a modern romance concept.
Final Thoughts – No Strings Attached is a lifeless comedy on modern romance.
ABC Film Challenge – Action – J – Johnny English Reborn (2011) Movie Review
Director: Oliver Parker
Writer: Hamish McColl (Screenplay) William Davies (Story)
Starring: Rowan Atkinson, Dominic West, Rosamund Pike, Gillian Anderson, Tim McInnerny, Daniel Kaluuya (the Kitchen)
Plot: Johnny English goes up against international assassins hunting down Chinese Premier Xiang Ping.
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Johnny English Reborn starts as Johnny English (Atkinson) is forced to return to MI7 after being disgraced after a failed mission. Years before. Johnny is working under Pamela (Anderson) who sets him out to figure out who is targeting Chinese Premier. This will see Johnny getting himself a new string of mishaps, as he looks for answers which could also clear his name from the previous incident.
Thoughts on Johnny English Reborn
Johnny English Reborn will continue to give us a poking fun at the spy genre. The over the top idea where one agent will need to overcome being placed in the prime suspect role to save the day. Even if we get a string of mishaps along the way. This does feel like it has a much more interesting story going on, even if most of the comedy does take away from it for most of the film.
The film looks to give us an idea that borrows from some of the more iconic scenes in previous spy movies, adding an attempted laugh along the way. Rowan Atkinson is the one trying for all the comedy. While everyone else seems to play their roles straight. Which doesn’t help the comedy come off as strong as it wants to, even if a young Daniel Kaluuya is the scene stealer in this film. Johnny English Reborn does improve on the last outing, but still doesn’t hit enough of the smart attempts at comedy. Which could work so much more.
Final Thoughts – Johnny English Reborn is an improvement, but not by much.
Plot: An aspiring author during the civil rights movement of the 1960s decides to write a book detailing the African American maids’ point of view on the white families for which they work, and the hardships they go through on a daily basis.
Runtime: 2 Hours 26 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Help starts when Skeeter Phelan (Stone) returns home after her spell at college. She was raised in a world where she has an African American maid who has now vanished. Skeeter sees how some of the upper society including Hilly Holbrook (Howard) treat the maids around their home.
Aibileen (Davis) decides to open up to Skeeter about the stories of mistreatment. Leading to Skeeter learning to more horrendous behaviour towards the maids. Just as the civil rights movement was starting to gather steam.
Verdict on The Help
The Help is a drama that follows an aspiring author who looks to take a stand against the upper-class women that walk over their African American maids. She is grateful for everything she learned from her own maid and doesn’t agree with the second-class citizen hate shown toward them. as she looks to make an impact, she starts listening to the stories of abuse.
This is a movie that shows the conditions many maids found themselves in during the 1960s. Showing how they dealt with many problems from their employers. It sends an important message about how things changed over time, but they needed somebody to take the stand.
The performances in the film are strong, with a fantastic cast that went on to get Oscar nominations for their performances.
Final Thoughts – The Help is an excellent drama with an outstanding cast.
Starring: Sean Bean, Danny Dyer, Aksel Hennie, Izabella Miko, James D’Arcy, William Houston, John Dagleish
Plot: The true story of the formation of Ian Fleming’s 30 Commando unit, a precursor for the elite forces in the U.K.
Tagline – The Were Britain’s Commando Elite.
Runtime: 1 Hour 30 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Age of Heroes starts as World War II rages on, Steinar (Hennie) is recruited to help in the war, with him guiding Jones (Bean) to lead his group of commandos behind enemy lines, where lost soldier Rains (Dyer) will be put through the grinder to make it into the Commando unit.
One the mission the soldiers head to Norway where they will meet with their connection for the final piece of information as they look to win a major battle in the war.
Thoughts on Age of Heroes
Thoughts – Age of Heroes brings us the typical war time story, which will see a small group of soldiers needing to overcome the odds to defeat a group of ruthless Nazi soldiers that will help in the war effort. The military side of the training is everything we have seen before, while the mission itself doesn’t add anything original to the idea. The performances in this film are carried by Sean Bean, who is head and shoulders above most of the rest of the cast, with Danny Dyer struggling to look the part. This doesn’t end up changing an over used style of film, just being on of the more forgettable, without ending up being one of the offensive ones.
Final Thoughts – Age of Heroes is a simple war time action film.
Plot: Aliens and their Guardians are hiding on Earth from intergalactic bounty hunters. They can only be killed in numerical order, and Number Four is next on the list. This is his story.
Runtime: 1 Hour 51 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: I Am Number Four starts as we meet John (Pettyfer) who is living with Henri (Olyphant) who to the outside world is his father. When in fact he is an assigned guardian from their home planet. That is preparing him and keeping him safe from the Mogadorians that are hunting down the children from the planet. That are destiny to help fight evils.
With John and Henri looking to start a new life. They know they are going to be the next target, being Number Four of the specialist skilled members. Now John just wants a normal life with the high school experience. But now he will need to step up and fight for his life and others around him.
Thoughts on I Am Number Four
Characters
John is meant to be keeping a low profile, with his life in danger, but also being key to fighting to protect the world in the future. One of the last remaining of his alien species that have been numbered with different abilities, with him being Number Four. The problem he faces is being a teenager that wants to experience the world. Make friends, struggling to keep his head down, he will need be prepared for the incoming battles.
Henri is the protector guardian of John, he has been hiding their footprint and preparing John for the battles. Knowing how important he will be for the future. Number 6 has been tracking down John, knowing that together they could be stronger. Though we don’t see much from this character.
Sarah and Sam are two outsiders that John befriends, that have their own reasons to help him. Sam having a connection to the bigger battle coming for John. We have the villains as the Mogadorians. That have been hunting for the super soldiers who having been hunting down and killing the different numbers. They are ruthless, but we don’t learn too much about them.
Performances
Alex Pettyfer does a solid enough job in the leading role, but he does always look to old for the high school role. Timothy Olyphant is good in the mentor role, where he gets to show how his calming presence is always in the film. Teresa Palmer does well, but doesn’t need to do too much, with the rest of the high school characters being performed well.
Story
The story here follows a teenager from another planet that is trying to live a normal life on Earth. Where he is being hunted down by an enemy which is looking to destroy the Earth. Looking to take out the threat the teenager and other numbers could bring them.
This is easily being designed as the beginning of a franchise that we never got. It shows how the character John or Number Four is learning more about what is to come. With Number Six already in the battle. We do seem to spend more time with the high school politics over the bigger picture. But you would like to imagine that would have come from the later films in a franchise.
Action/Sci-Fi – The action is more focused for a bigger fight in the final act, which will play into the sci-fi styles of what the powers the characters have.
Settings – The film is set in a small Ohio town. Which is showing us how John and Henri are trying to stay off the map in a small town.
Special Effects – The effects are used well when it comes to the big fights. Even if they just turn into the big monsters fighting, which do feel lifeless at times.
Scene of the Movie – Final battle.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Too much focus on the high school material.
Final Thoughts – I Am Number Four is everything a franchise starter wants to be, only it doesn’t seem to create a bigger enough villain that could carry on through the franchise, if we ever got a part two.
This is under Q because of the character Quintana.
Director: Chris Fisher
Writer: Eddie Gonzalez, Jeremy Haft (Screenplay)
Starring: Ray Liotta, Shawn Hatosy, Scott Norman, Clifton Powell, Kevin Chapman, Inbar Lavi, Charlotte Ross
Plot: Motor City moves the action to Michigan and explores the world of dirty cops on the violent streets of Detroit.
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Street Kings 2: Motor City starts 3-years after a drug bust goes wrong, where Marty Kingston (Liotta) is left injured and the rest of the team, Sal (Norman), Fowler (Powell) and Rogan (Chapman) have gone in different career directions within the force.
When one of the cops is murdered, young detective Daniel Sullivan (Hatosy) is put on to lead the investigation, with Marty wanting to watch over the investigation, pulling rank to be he partner in the case. As Sullivan goes deeper into the case, he starts to learn of the bigger story going on, one that will put his own family’s life in danger.
Thoughts on Street Kings 2: Motor City
Thoughts – Street Kings 2: Motor City will take us back into the world of dirty cops, with a new young detective finding himself thrown into a case, one that will see him facing of against the law enforcement officers, he believes he should be working with. This does seem to be a sequel in location, rather than having any connection to the original, which does seem like the cheap way to pull an audience into a standard level crime thriller. The way the story unfolds is interesting, by putting the villain in the centre stage, rather than creating a mystery about who is behind everything going on, so we can see how they are looking to stay one step ahead of the game. The performances in the film are solid enough, without ever managing to reach the heights which could be seen as great, but never bad. This will end up being the standard story, one we have seen done better and seen done worse, but largely not leaving much in the memory by the end.
Final Thoughts – Street Kings 2: Motor City is the standard crime thriller, offer little new to the world we know.
Writer: Oliver Butcher, Stephen Cornwell (Screenplay) Didier Van Cauwelaert (Novel)
Starring: Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, January Jones, Aidan Quinn, Bruno Ganz, Frank Langella
Plot: When a man awakens from a coma only to discover that someone has taken on his identity, he teams up with a young woman to prove who he is.
Tagline – Take back your life.
Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Unknown starts when Dr Martin Harris (Neeson) and his wife Elizabeth (Jones) are heading to Germany for a work conference only for Martin to get involved in an accident, leading him to go missing for four days, waking up without a complete memory.
When Martin looks to find his wife, he gets a surprised that she is with another Martin Harris (Quinn) and must track down the driver involved in the accident Gina (Kruger) to be the only person he can trust in the city, where this other man seems to have stolen his identity.
Thoughts on Unknown
Thoughts – Unknown is an action thriller that is right in the middle of the Liam Neeson resurgence in the older figure action roles. The film will see him needing to figure out who he really is after finding his identity has been stolen, with his wife not even remembering who he is. This is a story that will keep you guessing, as well as going in a surprising direction when everything gets revelled. Liam Neeson is great in the leading role, while the supporting cast add all the importance to the characters we meet. The film is offer up a bigger question to what could be going on beneath the surface, making us want to know more from the characters involved.
Final Thoughts – Unknown is a tense thriller that will keep you guessing.
