My Favorite Collection: The Sixth Sense (10/10)

“I see dead people. Walking around like regular people. They don't see each other. They only see what they want to see. They don't know they're dead.”

When asked what my favorite films are, M. Night Shyamalan’s psychological thriller The Sixth Sense tops the list for me every time. I know he hasn’t been on a role lately, but that doesn’t stop me from having high expectations for any of his upcoming projects because I was deeply influenced by this film. Even his following movies, Unbreakable and Signs, rank among my favorites, and I went as far as defending his work in The Happening (which is a guilty pleasure of mine). His latest films have disappointed me, but I still admire his storytelling and the way he builds suspense in his films (he’s heavily influenced by another favorite director of mine: Alfred Hitchcock). I’m looking forward to the release of his new TV series, Wayward Pines, which seems like a return to form for this talented director. But I’m even more excited about his upcoming film, The Visit, which will be released in September. 

I was 18 when this film came out and I had just passed my final High School exam so I decided to treat myself to the movies that night to celebrate. Up to this point I was simply a casual viewer of movies and enjoyed pretty much everything I saw. I had no idea about film criticism, and when I got to the theater I decided on The Sixth Sense simply because it starred Bruce Willis. I didn’t know anything else about the film and was surprised it wasn’t another action vehicle from Willis. The film had a very slow and creepy opening, but I was sucked in by the story and the building atmosphere. I was enjoying the strong chemistry between Willis and Haley Joel Osment as the pair were trying to figure out what was causing these freaky visions. There were several surprisingly scary  scenes that made me jump out of my seat a couple of times. The score was deeply effective as well. I was hooked from the very opening scene, but I was not at all prepared for the surprising and revealing twist at the end that left me completely blown away and speechless in the theater as the credits began rolling. I was in love with The Sixth Sense and from that moment on I have not stopped praising it. 

I can’t believe all the signs that Shyamalan leaves behind for the audience while he is telling the story, and we still couldn’t see the twist coming. He practically has Osment spell it out in his famous scene with Willis. It was a movie I had to rewatch simply because of that twist, and the second viewing allowed me to appreciate the film even more by catching up on all the symbolisms and clues that the director left behind. In my opinion it is the best twist ever because you never feel cheated by it. I credit this movie for getting me interested in film as an art form, although the transition didn’t happen from one moment to the next. The performances from Willis, Olivia Williams, and Toni Collette are all great, but Osment stood out, and it remains one of the best child performances I’ve seen from a Hollywood film.

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (6/10): Lacks the emotional impact of the first film

"Sin City is where you go in with your eyes open, or you don't come out at all."

There has been a widespread claim that if you were a fan of the first film you will definitely love this sequel, but it wasn't the case for me. I called Sin City a masterpiece nine years ago when it first came out, but A Dame to Kill For doesn't even come close to that claim. One could argue and say that the novelty of these dark graphic novel adaptations has warn off considering that when Sin City first came out the visuals were groundbreaking unlike anything we had seen before. Perhaps it may have something to do with the fact that I haven't enjoyed the recent adaptations (the last one I really liked was 2009's Watchmen), but I know that my disappointment doesn't just come from this. A Dame to Kill For is as visually striking as the first film and it captures that pulpy film noir essence really well once again. What Frank Miller and Robert Rodriguez don't do well however is build the suspense and connect the intertwining storylines like they did the first time. You have all these interesting characters returning and some new faces, but the stories didn't resonate with me this time around. Despite using the same formula and delivering in visuals and style, the three different storylines don't connect together. The film still has that same dark feel to it where it seems you are watching a comic book come to life, but the stories aren't as interesting and the narration isn't as gripping. So despite enjoying the visuals, this film was a huge disappointment for me and I don't think that the reason for it was that the novelty has worn off because it was the best aspect of this sequel.

Most would agree that the best character in Sin City is Marv (Mickey Rourke) and thankfully we get a lot of him once again. The story is at its best when it centers around him. Some of the new characters were also fun to watch. Joseph Gordon Levitt as Johnny was one of my favorites in this sequel. His character is suave and cocky, but always fun. His scenes facing off the main villain played by Powers Boothe are the highlight of the film along with Marv. We also get a lot more scenes from Nancy (Jessica Alba) and this time she has more depth to her character as well. Josh Brolin also gives a solid performance as Dwight, but unfortunately his segment is the weakest. So we get all these cool characters and everything seems to be perfect once again, but somehow the stories don't intertwine as effectively as they did the first time. The stories aren't as shocking and they lack that emotional punch that Sin City delivered the first time. The film is gratuitously violent once again, but it isn't effective. The impact was missing. There were also several characters that took me out of the film. I loved Bruce Willis in the first film, but there was no need to include him here. He took me out of the movie. The longest segment in this film involving Josh Brolin and Eva Green was also the least interesting. Green has fun with her character once again like she did in the 300 sequel, but this time her storyline is way too familiar. All she does here is be nude and seduce men. The subplot where she seduces Christopher Meloni was completely unnecessary, as were his scenes with Jeremy Piven. 

So despite some of the interesting things that A Dame To Kill For had going for it, it has several flaws which make the story drag at times. This is the sort of film in which you should be having fun, but I found myself bored with some of these segment. The narration might seem silly at times, but it worked the first time as a parody of noir films. This time it felt dull. I know my review sounds negative but it is because I expected a lot more from this sequel. I still had a fun time watching Marv once again, I also appreciated that Alba had more screen time, and loved the addition of Joseph Gordon-Levitt to the already incredible cast. Unfortunately there were some elements that didn't connect with me and the stories failed to fit together as they did the first time.

My Review: RED 2 (5/10)

"If there's one thing I know, it's women and covert operations."

If there's one thing I know, it's that if the first film wasn't good, the sequel probably won't be either. That was the case with RED 2 which follows pretty much the same generic formula that it did in the first RED with the new additions of Catherine Zeta Jones, Anthony Hopkins, and Byung-hun Lee. The film has its funny moments, not thanks to screenwriters Jon and Erich Hoeber (responsible for the terrible screenplays of Whiteout and Battleship), but to its incredible and highly likable cast. Their presence alone and their interactions together elevate this otherwise ridiculous film. I guess that the producers decided to make a sequel considering the world wide success the first film had (despite not being a fan) and this time they brought Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest and Fun with Dick and Jane) to take over the director's chair that Robert Schwentke (RIPD and Flightplan) had left unoccupied. This sequel takes the same formula and similar situations by mixing comedy with over the top action sequences. There is nothing sophisticated or fresh about this film, so don't go into this expecting an engaging and thoughtful trailer. 

The plot follows the events from the previous film as Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is trying to enjoy his retired life now with the company of his girlfriend Sarah (Mary-Louise Parker), but the relationship is being affected by his overprotective behavior. She is yearning for some action in her life, so when Marvin (John Malkovich) shows up to warn Frank that there are people following them she doesn't hesitate in wanting to come along. But Frank dismisses Marvin and claims he is overreacting and that he and Sarah should continue to go on with their normal lives. It turns out that Marvin was right, as a Pentagon operative named Jack Horton (Neal McDonough) tries to capture Frank and threatens to torture Sarah unless he gives him some important information. Marvin comes to the rescue and explains that they are being hunted due to their previous involvement in a Cold War undercover operation known as Nightshade involving some sort of nuclear weapon. In order to find out more information and discover the reason as to why these men are hunting them down Frank, Sarah, and Marvin travel to Paris and meet up with Russian agent Katya (Catherine Zeta-Jones) who also happens to share a past relationship with Frank. Former MI6 agent, Victoria (Helen Mirren), is hired to kill Frank as well, but being a friend of theirs she gives them the heads up. It seems these former agents have been forced to come out of retirement once again to settle things once and for all.

If you thought the first film was silly, then you will think RED 2 is even more ridiculous considering the over the top action scenes involving car chases and gunshots. The plot is really dumb and light, and the only fun you might get out of this film comes from the cast. I actually liked Anthony Hopkins and Byung-hun Lee in their particular roles here, but they just couldn't do much with the material. Hellen Mirren is such a talented actress that at moments it felt embarrassing to hear her speak out her recycled lines. The cast did seem to have a lot of fun with the lightness of it all and John Malkovich delivers several funny lines, but I just felt this film was dull, stale, and unsatisfying. To be honest I came into this film remembering very little about the first film, and I can imagine I will completely forget about this sequel as well in a few more weeks because it is beyond silly. Silly can be good at times, but here I think they went a little too far with it. I will give this two and a half stars for the cast involved because they are just fun to watch at times. 

My Review: The Expendables 2 (4/10)

"Track him, find him, kill him."

The Expendable 2 is a ridiculous and over the top action film that tries to connect with the audience through nostalgic action scenes and cheesy one liners. Teaming these great action stars from the 80's was a great idea and appealed to us in the first Expendables because we hadn't seen these actors do anything interesting in a long time, but in the sequel that novelty is gone and it felt like a complete embarrassment seeing these once great and talented actors working with such a lazy and predictable script. These action films full of testosterone kind of have the same appeal for men that Katherine Heigl's films have for women. Not even director Simon West who has made some decent action films in the past couldn't save this film from becoming such a train wreck. I really enjoyed Con Air and thought The Mechanic was entertaining, but this has to be one of his weakest efforts as a director. There are so many cheesy lines and dialogues in this film that it's not even funny. Arnold Schwarzenegger repeats his "I'll be back" line from Terminator like three times, Bruce Willis tells Arnold "You've been terminated," and several more lines that try to appeal to our memory of those great films of the past. I think that it was a great idea to reunite these guys for one movie, but a sequel was completely unnecessary.

The team from the first film is back with Barney Ross (Sylvester Stallone) leading the guns for hire crew which consists of Lee Christmas (Jason Statham), Yin Yang (Jet Li), Gunnar (Dolph Lundgren), Hale Caesar (Terry Crews), and Toll Road (Randy Couture).  Barney hires some fresh blood for their next mission, former US soldier Billy (Liam Hemsworth), who everyone pretty much calls the Kid. CIA agent Church (Bruce Willis) hires the men for a simple mission that consists of retrieving something from a crashed plane in Asia. He assigns his assistant, Maggie (Nan Yu) to go with them and bring back the device they are looking for. The mission goes wrong when some men are waiting for them at the crash site and take The Kid hostage forcing them to drop their weapons and give them the device they've come to retrieve. Vilain (Jean Claude Van Damme) takes the device and the Expendables are forced to regroup in order to face Vilain and his team known as The Sangs. 

In my opinion the best thing about The Expendables 2 are the two new additions: Jean Claude Van Damme as the villain and Chuck Norris who has a couple of cameos. The scenes with Chuck Norris are hilarious as he plays along with the famous internet memes about him. He mentions how once a cobra bit him in the dessert and after five days in agonizing pain the cobra died. The Expendables does play a lot with the stereotypes of each actor and the films that made them famous, but the action scenes aren't worth saving this movie. There is nothing unique or original about this film, we've seen it all before with much better scripts. This film is so predictable that you could tell everything that was going to happen. It is just a lazy repeat of the 80's action genre films. The self deprecating jokes didn't really work for me. 

My Review: Twelve Monkeys (7/10)

"I am mentally divergent, in that I am escaping certain unnamed realities that plague my life here. When I stop going there, I will be well. Are you also divergent, friend?"

That is the question that the audience has to ask itself during this sci-fi mentally ill time traveling futuristic movie. Is the lead character mentally ill or is he really on a mission traveling through time in order to find a cure to a deadly virus that has wiped off nearly all the population and forced the few survivors to live underground? Director Terry Gilliam has created a memorable sci-fi flick that like all time traveling films has a few in-congruencies but still manages to hold the audience's attention. Gilliam is better known for his work in Monty Python, but he's also directed different types of genre films like The Fisher King (dramedy), Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (adventure), and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Fantasy). He has a pretty respectable filmography as a director, although I still think he did his best work in the 90's. This film has a strong screenplay, but it will be remembered for the strong performances from Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt. Twelve Monkeys is a dark futuristic film similar in some ways to Blade Runner although it kind of diverges all over the place with so many ideas. This is an inventive film but I don't know how many ideas were taken from Chris Marker's 1962 short film, La jetee, which inspired this movie. The screenplay was adapted by David Webb Peoples (Blade Runner, Unforgiven) and Janet Peoples. His influence from Blade Runner seems to be mixed in the screenplay here as well. This is a very fun sci-fi film although full of really weird moments.

The film takes place sometime in the future after a deadly virus wiped out over 5 billion people and the few survivors were forced to live underground. James Cole (Bruce Willis) is a convict who is sent by a group of scientists to the past in order to gather information about the virus. The scientists want to study the virus so they can create a cure and live in the outside world once again. Cole is mistakenly sent to 1990 instead of 1996 which was the year in which the virus began spreading, and he ends up in a mental hospital after attacking several police officers. At the mental hospital he is treated by Dr. Railly (Madeleine Stowe) and he also meets another patient named Jeffrey Goines (Brad Pitt) who happens to be the son of a famous scientist (Christopher Plummer). Cole at first begins to search desperately for the "Army of the Twelve Monkeys" because they are believed to be the group responsible for spreading the virus, but later he begins to question himself and believe that he might actually be insane himself. This is a puzzle that he will have to piece together with the help of Railly. 

This is the puzzle that Gilliam invites the audience to solve along the way and keeps us guessing as the plot unfolds before our eyes. I'm not a huge fan of futuristic films, but Gilliam's vision here is pretty hypnotic and poetic. Most of the film actually takes place in the past, but there are several elements introduced that keep us guessing what will happen next. There were a few stand out scenes like the one in which Cole and Railly are at a movie theater and begin commenting on how despite having seen the movie before the perception of it changes every time, similar to what is happening with Cole through his time traveling. Does his presence in the past change things in the future? Can he find the virus on time in order to save the people in the future? These are a few questions that the film raises. The more you think about things the more flaws you will find, but that doesn't take away anything from this sci-fi film. I really liked Brad Pitt's performance here for which he received an Academy nomination, although he lost to Kevin Spacey (The Usual Suspects). The film runs a bit long, but it never ceases to entertain.

Rating: 7,1/10

My Review: GI Joe: Retaliation (6/10)

¨Call me JOE¨

As a kid I was a huge fan of the GI Joe cartoons and had a vast collection of the action figures, but I never thought it was a very good idea to bring the franchise to the big screen. I didn’t like the first film despite all the great special effects because the entire concept was just way too silly, and I didn’t like this film all that much either despite the fact it had a better story and some more interesting characters. What really saved this film for me was a ten minute action scene in the mountains which was pretty amazing and made the entire movie worthwhile. It was one of the best action scenes I`ve seen all year. This second film was directed by Jon M. Chu (Justin Bieber Never Say Never and Step Up 2) and the screenplay co-written by Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick (Zombieland), but very few actors are back from the original movie (only five) so this felt like a totally different movie. Retaliation is much better than Rise of Cobra but it still felt a little light due to the nonstop action. It’s one of those movies you can enjoy for two hours but forget about once it’s over. What it does have going for it is that is includes better action stars like The Rock and Bruce Willis. The Rock is probably one of the best contemporary action stars and he already brought the Fast and Furious franchise back alive again. He doesn’t quite do the same with GI Joe, but he still makes this movie a little more enjoyable than the original one. Despite all the cheesiness of the plot I still had some fun, and the producers knew that the premise couldn’t be taken seriously so they just played around with it.

The Joes continue to serve and protect the world under the leadership of Captain Duke (Channing Tatum) and his team which consists of Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock), Flint (D.J. Cotrona), and Jaye (Adrianne Palicki). They have a couple of successful missions until the team is betrayed by the US president (Jonathan Pryce) who is actually Zartan (Arnold Vosloo) infiltrated as him. Thus the Joes are forced to fight enemy forces inside their own government and are forced to receive help from the only person they can trust: retired General Joe Colton (Bruce Willis). Meanwhile Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee) has conceived a plan with Firefly (Ray Stevenson) to free their imprisoned Cobra Commander (Luke Bracey). Snake Eyes (Ray Park) is determined to stop him with the help of Jinx (Elodie Yung), but the Joes are running out of time with the President threatening the world with a nuclear war. Will the Joes be able to stop the Cobra team before they destroy the entire world?

Channing Tatum and The Rock shared some funny scenes together and had great chemistry, but I would have enjoyed more screen time with them. Adrianne Palicki looked great in that red dress and was a good addition to the film. Cotrona and Willis didn’t do much, but the highlight of the film was the mountain action sequence between Park and Lee. The film had its extremely cheesy moments, and I couldn’t believe they even didn’t care about the explosion of London. They continued as if nothing ever happened and celebrated the success of the mission without considering the devastating loss. I think that was probably the worst part of the film and the entire scene was probably used to attract people through the trailers. Retaliation is big and loud, anticipation for what is to come in the blockbuster summer movies. By the time summer gets here we will probably have forgotten all about this movie, but it was still a fun and entertaining two hours. Even those people that will end up hating this film will have to agree that the ten minute action scene between Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow was pretty entertaining. As long as you don’t think too much about what`s going on you might enjoy this senseless film.

My Review: A Good Day to Die Hard (4/10)

¨The things we do for our kids! Yippee Ki-Yay…¨

This is the fifth film in the Die Hard franchise which began way back in 1988 when Bruce Willis still had some hair. That movie helped Willis become an action star and raised the bar for all action movies since. It also received four Oscar nominations. None of the sequels have been able to match that same quality, but at least they had a decent storyline and were overall pretty decent films. A Good Day to Die Hard on the other hand not only does it not live up to the franchise expectations, it kills it once and for all thanks to a terrible script and some senseless action scenes. This film is all noise, but no content. It is the shortest and by far the worse film of the franchise making the 2007 sequel look like a masterpiece next to this one. A lot of things went wrong with this film; first of all it was directed by John Moore (Max Payne, The Omen) who in my opinion hasn’t directed a good movie in his entire career. Second, the script written by Skip Woods is absolutely terrible with no story whatsoever or any character development. Woods didn’t repeat the success he had with the A-Team film which I found to be pretty funny and entertaining. Third and perhaps the most fatal mistake they took John McClane out of the United States and took him to Russia which is too bad because in the original film New York was more like a character than a simple location. I am just so glad that Nicolas Winding Refn decided not to direct this terrible story. He´s a smart man. So far the 2013 releases have been pretty weak and A Good Day to Die Hard wasn’t the exception.

For the first time we get to follow our hero, John McClane (Bruce Willis) to a foreign territory as he decides to travel to Russia on vacations in search of his troubled son, Jack (Jai Courtney) with whom he hasn’t been in contact with in over three years. Jack happens to be on trial for murder, but what his father doesn’t know is that he is working as an undercover agent for the CIA. Jack is on a mission to prevent a nuclear weapon heist and he is actually on trial to try to free Yuri Komarov (Sebastian Koch), a political prisoner who claims to have important incriminating evidence in a secret hidden file on a high ranked Russian official named Viktor Chagarin (Sergei Kolesnikov). Jack is trying to free Yuri before the corrupt officials get to Yuri and eliminate him in order to get his hands on the file and prevent a nuclear war. This is when John arrives in Russia and while he is getting to the courthouse to find his son he gets caught in the middle of a gigantic explosion that is being led by Chagarin and his men to try to intercept Yuri before he testifies. Jack manages to rescue Yuri and they escape from the courthouse, but are being followed. John catches up with them while they are being pursued and his son Jack is not too pleased to see him. His father seems to have interfered with his plan to rescue Yuri and the rest of the CIA officials have to cancel the extraction. Now they are forced to work together in order to get Yuri to safety and find the file before Chagarin and his men do.

Like in all other Die Hard films we have plenty of helicopter explosions and a lot of action, but we lack a true story. There is very little dialog in this film and hardly any transition time from one action scene to another. That is why this film is so short, there is no room for character development and the producers don’t want us to think too much about the plot. Everything feels so rushed and in my opinion John Moore has completely killed this franchise through this uninspired script that they decided to work with. The film is very disappointing, loud, and full of boring vehicle chases and explosions. Not even Bruce Willis has enough charisma this time to save the film. Unlike in his earlier films where his character, John McClane was a mere mortal who bled and got beat up, here they make him look like a superhero who can´t be touched. There is no fun in his character being an immortal, because what we liked about him in the first place was his vulnerability and the courage he had to face danger despite getting hurt. His character lacks personality just like this film does which has been reduced to a bunch of noise and senseless twists. Skip this movie.

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My Review: Looper (8/10)

¨ Time travel has not yet been invented. But thirty years from now, it will have been.¨

Looper is a fantastic sci-fi action film about time travel, that writer-director Rian Johnson manages really well by focusing more on the character development than the actual dilemma that may present itself with a subject like this. If you stop to think about the plot too much you might find some holes, but Johnson doesn’t give you too much time to think about those issues, but rather presents several great action scenes mixed with dynamic characters to change the focus of the film. There is one scene where Bruce Willis`s character talks to Joseph Gordon-Levitt and tells him: ¨I don't want to talk about time travel because if we start talking about it then we're going to be here all day talking about it, making diagrams with straws.¨ That is exactly what Johnson wants to avoid in a film like this. He presents the world he creates in such a way that we just have to enjoy it without questioning things. He doesn’t want the viewer to debate if such a world is possible, but rather simply to play along with him in this futuristic world he has created. His main focus was on the characters and the action, and he did a superb job giving the characters a lot of depth. I really had no idea what direction Looper was heading at times, but I really enjoyed the originality of it. The performances were really great as well. Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a young Bruce Willis to perfection, mimicking his mannerisms all too well. He really steals the show here, although the computer effects on his face to make him more Willis-like physically were a bit distracting for me.

In 2074 time machines will have been invented although there use will be illegal. They are used only by mobsters to get rid of the people they want eliminated. These mobsters send these people blindfolded thirty years back in the past (2044) where killers named ¨loopers¨ await for them to kill them. Although time machines haven’t been invented in 2044 these loopers are hired by one of the mobsters from the future named Abe (Jeff Daniels) who has gone back to live in the past and assure the loopers do their job. The loopers also know that if the mob finds one of them in the future (2074) they will send them back and have them killed to close the loop. It is sort of like a retirement plan because the looper is guaranteed he will live for 30 years and will get paid really well. One of these loopers is Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who is young and always delivers despite being a junkie. He has a romantic relationship with Suzie (Piper Perabo), a hooker, and his best friend is also a looper, Seth (Paul Dano). When Seth isn’t able to close the loop and kill his old self, Abe goes looking for him and kills him. Joe knows what he has to do when his old self is called, but fails to close the loop as well when old Joe (Bruce Willis) knocks him out. Thus the race begins to find his old self and kill him before Abe and his men find him. Old Joe on the other hand wants to find a key target who in the future will be responsible for the death of his loved one in order to prevent her loss. The entire plot becomes more and more complicated as we move on, because like Abe says ¨This time travel crap, just fries your brain like an egg, ¨ but it does make for one entertaining movie.

This was Rian Johnson´s third feature film after his successful 2005 debut, Brick, and his follow up The Brothers Bloom. This is probably his most successful film considering the budget he had to work with, and he is making a name for himself by creating these original and character driven films. His stories are really interesting and despite all the action and futuristic scenes he also creates memorable characters. The child actor in this film, Pierce Gagnon, is also really remarkable. He was a delight to watch on screen. Emily Blunt also has an important role in the second half of the movie and delivers as always. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is perhaps one of the most underrated actors of our days. He is excellent in this film, and Bruce Willis well he is simply Bruce Willis, one of the best action stars of out time. The film starts out a bit slow with the introduction, but once Bruce Willis shows up the action begins and the characters begin to develop before our eyes (especially Joseph Gordon-Levitt`s character). This is a unique and original film, and I recommend it.

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My Review: Moonrise Kingdom (9/10)

¨We're in love. We just want to be together. What's wrong with that? ¨

You either love Wes Anderson movies or you hate them. I am on the loving side since I always find his movies to be hysterical and original. Moonrise Kingdom is a great film with some pretty interesting performances as well. It has been five years since Anderson directed a feature film (that wasn`t animated) and the wait is finally over. His last film, The Darjeeling Limited, came out in 2007 and it was a very funny movie, but Moonrise Kingdom is superior in my opinion. I wouldn’t say Moonrise Kingdom is Wes Anderson´s best work but I know fans of his defer on what their favorite movie of his is. Some enjoy his first film, Bottle Rocket the most; but others have found Rushmore to be his best work. I still think The Royal Tenenbaums is his best film, and it probably has to do with it being the first film of his that I watched. Fans of Wes Anderson probably would agree with me that the first film of his that they watched is their favorite one because of the originality and inventiveness of his style. He has unique trademarks which he uses for all of his films so you probably could recognize his work in the first minute of the movie. His films always seem to deal with some sort of broken family issue where the children don’t get along with their parents or are being raised by a single parent. He also uses a lot of color in his films; yellow, green and red predominate. Anderson makes very personal films and sometimes his movies seem to repeat themselves, but he has a unique style that separates his work from other Hollywood comedies. The central theme of his movies are always quirky and bizarre, but in a good way. Moonrise Kingdom is in my opinion his most romantic work.

The story is set on the small island of New Penzance off the coast of New England in 1965, a few days before a big storm is to arrive. Walt (Bill Murray) and Laura Bishop (Frances McDormand) live on the island with their three sons and daughter named Suzy (Kara Hayward). Suzy is very troubled; she doesn’t get along with her parents and doesn’t have many friends. She befriends a young scout named Sam (Jared Gilman) who is at the other side of the island in a summer camp. Sam decides to escape from camp, meet up with Suzy secretly, with whom he`s been corresponding through letters, and run off together. Scout Master Randy (Edward Norton) discovers that Sam has escaped from camp and decides to send the rest of the scouts on a search hunt. He also notifies Police Captain Sharp (Bruce Willis) about the escape and the Captain connects the disappearance of both children and concludes that they have run off together. While Suzy and Sam hike and set camp together while fleeing from the search party they fall in love with each other. The Captain discovers that Sam is really an orphan and that his foster parents won`t accept him back so he has to notify Social Services (Tilda Swinton) about the incident. Sam and Suzy will do what it takes to stay together and not be found, while the entire town begins searching for them.

Once again Wes Anderson works alongside Bill Murray and his cousin Jason Schwartzman who has a small role in this film. He`s worked with them in almost all of his films, but the difference here in Moonrise Kingdom is that the true stars of the film are the kid actors: Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward. Hayward reminded me a lot of Gwyneth Paltrow in The Royal Tenenbaums. They are great in this movie and had a lot of chemistry together. Bruce Willis, Frances McDormand, and Edward Norton also give the film a funny and quirky touch to it. Wes Anderson`s trademarks are all over this film and the tone is similar to the others, but it also has some touches that differentiate it from his other works. Having the kids be the stars of the film is a first for him, and the film does have a romantic touch to it despite maintaining a depressive mood throughout. As always Wes Anderson wrote the screenplay for his film, although this time he co-wrote it with Roman Coppola who had worked with him in The Darjeeling Limited as well. His first films were co-written along with Owen Wilson, and Noah Baumbach has also worked with him in a couple of projects as well. His screenplays are always full of quirky humor and bizarre scenarios. That is one of the reasons I love his movies so much. Moonrise Kingdom is a film that Wes Anderson fans will enjoy quite a bit.

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My Review: RED (5/10)

¨He got old. Then some thumb-sucker came along and tagged him RED: Retired, Extremely Dangerous.¨

Robert Schwentke (The Time Traveler`s Wife, and Flightplan) had the privilege of directing a talented cast including Bruce Willis, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren, John Malkovich, Morgan Freeman, Brian Cox, Karl Urban, and Richard Dreyfuss. A lot of big names for the latest adaptation of the DC Comic graphic novel written by Warren Ellis and Cully Hamner. One would expect nothing could go wrong with a movie with such great star power, but I was disappointed with this lightly entertaining comedy slash action flick. Red suffers from a poorly adapted screenplay written by Jon and Erich Hoeber (the guys who brought us one of the worst films of 2009: Whiteout). The plot is really bad, and the actors do the best they can in order to save the film. There are some funny moments (but far too few) thanks to the talent from the entire cast that save the movie from falling into horrible territory. John Malkovich gives a very comedic and surprising performance, but unfortunately he doesn`t get enough screen time to save the movie. The rest of the cast give good performances, but they are far from memorable. The chemistry between Bruce Willis and Mary-Louise Parker (Weeds) is pretty decent, although nothing we haven’t seen before. I really expected this movie would have a lot more funnier moments, but the screenplay failed to help out the great cast. Red could have been much better if the producers would have taken more time in finding better screenwriters. I just felt this movie was like an All-Star team without a good coach to help them win the championship. With a better plot, Red would have been a great and memorable movie.

Bruce Willis is Frank Moses, a former CIA agent who is now retired and having a difficult time making the transition. The only thing that seems to keep him going is when he gets to speak over the phone with his government pension representative, Sarah Ross (Mary-Louise Parker). Her life doesn`t seem all that exciting either, and she spends her days working and reading sexy spy novels. Sarah and Frank spend a lot of time on the phone discussing their boring and lonely lives without having ever met, but they seem to enjoy each other. Their daily routines will change all of a sudden when someone puts a hit on Frank and tries killing him. Frank might be old, but he`s still got game. He manages to elude the dozen of assassins that are sent to his home and decides to give Sarah a visit in Kansas City guessing she might be in danger as well. Frank will need some help in order to discover who is after him so he decides to get his old CIA team back together: Marvin Boggs (John Malkovich), Victoria (Helen Mirren), and Joe Matheson (Morgan Freeman). They are all more than happy to get back in action since they all seem to have difficulties adapting to their retiree lives. Together they begin delving into the past in search for clues, while at the same time they have to face the young CIA agent who is after them: William Cooper (Karl Urban). Richard Dreyfuss, Brian Cox, and Julian McMahon also have smaller roles in the film.

I really wished this movie would have been funnier considering the talented cast. Malkovich is by far the funniest one in the film; I`ve seen Willis in better roles; Freeman doesn’t add anything to the story; Urban being one of the younger actors proved he has what it takes to stand next to these A-list actors; Louise-Parker was pretty funny in this movie, but she is way better in Weeds; and Helen Mirren always brings her A game to the table. I didn`t have a problem with the performances, but I just wished they would have done a better job with the plot and the screenplay. This is one of those movies that looks hilarious in the trailers, but then you discover it isn`t actually that funny when sitting through the 100 minute film. Red is not terrible. I actually had a decent time watching it, but it is just light entertainment I wouldn`t consider recommending it or watching it over again. The movie did give me a nostalgic feeling seeing how so many of these actors are actually close to their retirement, but they still have the talent if given the right script to work with. I am a huge Bruce Willis fan, but I have to admit John Malkovich stole each scene he was in. Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox both have small parts in this movie, but they are really funny in it as well. Seeing these brilliant actors working together is the highlight of the film, but they should have brought in some talented screenwriters as well.

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