Takers

Just to let you know, just to put this up front at the jump, "Takers" isn't the most original film ever done. In fact I think Michael Mann could justify filing a lawsuit against the filmakers of this movie because if this isn't a remake of Mann's "Heat" starring De Niro and Pacino then it's the sequel. Oh and if you missed the shootout at the end of "True Romance" starring Slater and Arquette then rest easy my fine readers, it's in here. As is the blatant and brazen rip off of "The Italian Job" starring Wahlberg and Theron. In fact that movie is even mentioned by name for the heist these well dressed men are about to pull. Like I said, it's not the most original movie ever made.

However, this movie does have a few things going for it and one of them like I stated was the wardrobe. I would have to say that only the Ocean's 11, 12, and 13 movies were better dressed than the people in this film. I would bet that a good portion of the budget was spent on the wardrobe alone. Add to that the fact that this movie had a cast that pretty much included everybody you could think of and even a few surprises and you'll forgive the cliche story line and the blatant rip offs of the movies I listed above.

Idris Elba does his best DeNiro as "Gordon" and leads his well dressed and precise team of thieves on a bank heist as the movie opens. Thankfully the director of this movie, John Luessenhop allows Idris to speak in his native Hackney, England accent. A refreshing change in my opinion (and just for the record I think he'd make a great Bond if they ever make another one of those movies). In his team are Michael Ealy, Paul Walker, Hayden Christensen, and Chris Brown and they are a finely tuned machine a with nary a disagreement between any of them. What Idris says is law and the team usually falls in line. That is until an old acquaintance gets released from prison a year early for good behavior.

T.I. plays the appropriately name "Ghost" and he comes back to the gang with a job that would be their biggest payday yet. Michael Ealy's character "Jake" wants him dead immediately but get's overruled by the team because they want to hear about his "job". "Ghost" has a serious bone to pick with his old crew though thanks to a heist gone bad back in 2004 which got him sent to prison. He lost his girlfriend, the always lovely Zoey Saldana to Michael Ealy's "Jake" in the process so there really is no love lost between those two at all.

Matt Dillon does his best Pacino playing detective "Jack Wells" while tracking down this crew while going through a divorce and potentially losing his daughters love, sound familiar? Someone get Michael Mann on the phone. He's truculent with the higher ups and even downright abrasive when it comes to dealing with Internal Affairs. His main focus is capturing the bad guys who robbed the bank and nothing else matters. Rounding out the cast are Glynn Turman, Steve Harris, Johnathon Schaech, Jay Hernandez, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste (who I think has been highly underrated her entire career). It's quite the cast and they are deftly directed by John Luessenhop, his second film and first with a budget this large I'm sure but you couldn't tell that by what you see on the screen. While you do see his inspiration from other films and directors he still does an okay job of pulling you into this movie. Sometimes the camera work is sloppy and while you have no idea what's going on at times it's still a solid job. The movie is stylish and glossy and at times even artistic. Scored by Paul Haslinger the music fits the images but sadly is ultimately forgettable.

Would I recommend this movie? Hard to say. That would depend on whether you liked "Heat", "True Romance", and "The Italian Job" and you wouldn't mind seeing all those movies again just this time all at the same time.

See you at the theater!

The Expendables

To say “The Expendables” was one of the worst films I have ever seen would be doing all those other bad films a serious disservice. At least those movies tried to give you something interesting while missing on some front along the way. Maybe they dedicated far too much time in character development on a character you could care less about or maybe they gave you too much action and no character development at all. There were those movies that gave you no story line or decent kind of plot at all and had you scratching your head as to what the hell was going on but the acting was pretty good or the cinematography was amazing. There was pretty much always something you could hang your hat on in those bad films that could almost justify the price of admission, almost. With “The Expendables”, there is no hook of any kind and no justifying the cost of the ticket.

If this movie came out when Arnold was fighting aliens with faces that looked like crabs and Bruce was fighting foreign thieves in Nakatomi and Mel and Danny were still the most entertaining form of ebony and ivory on the big screen then MAYBE this movie wouldn’t have been so bad. Sadly that isn’t the case. This movie is instead populated by action movie stars, wrestling stars, and MMA stars well past their prime (the budget on makeup alone must have been enormous). Sloppily directed by the heavy handed and ridiculously predictable Sylvester Stallone, this movie does everything it can to insult your intelligence and if you’ve seen his “John Rambo” opus then you’ve seen this movie already. This time though, instead of bringing along a bunch of no names like he did in “John Rambo” he decided to bring along every out of work action star from fifteen years ago hoping to get that dollar out of your pocket. I mean how could you NOT want to see that scene with Arnold, Bruce, and Stallone finally in the same room at the same time?

The dialogue was a joke and the plot is just utterly ridiculous but you didn’t buy your ticket for Shakespeare. You brought that ticket to see things blow up and old white men fight and flirt with women at least half their age and in that case you wouldn’t be disappointed at all. The explosions are many and grow in intensity as the movie goes on. The fights are numerous and border on the ludicrous and the three women in this movie I doubt will ever be using this film to pad their resume. The editing, much like the story is all over the place and apparently Sly has fallen in love with CG blood. He used it in “John” but he’s taken it to the next level by supposedly using guns so powerful that they can blow heads clean off bodies and cut bodies completely in half.

The story (and I use that word VERY lightly) follows a merry band of high paid mercenaries that get hired by the CIA (yawn) to assassinate a ruthless Latin American dictator that’s backed by a rogue ex CIA agent (yawn). There are the subplots of domestic abuse, substance abuse, and guilt for past deeds that took place in some jungle while bathed in blood. In the hands of real actors this may have been believable but for guys who only know how to squint and pump iron it all comes across as fake. The score by Brian Tyler was completely over the top like everything else in this movie. I usually really like his scores but this one, not so much. The music tried to add emotion where the actors failed too and went bombastic during the action sequences in the attempt to get that adrenaline rushing.

If you like and missed seeing Sly, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Steve Austin, Randy Couture, Terry Crews, Eric Roberts, and Jason Statham and you don’t mind the unabashedly simplistic plot then you just may enjoy this movie. A movie that should have been released at least fifteen maybe twenty years ago.

Cairo Time

I have always like Patricia Clarkson as an actress. I always felt she was someone underrated and overlooked in the pantheon of fine actors. I admired her work in movies like "The Green Mile", "Far From Heaven", and "The Station Agent" but I didn't become a fan of hers until "Elegy" (which is a movie I highly recommend). I have also been a fan of Alexander Siddig's work as well. He's a very elegant actor and brings a certain dignity to everything he is in. From his TV work on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine", "MI5", and "24" to his work in films like "Kingdom of Heaven" and "Syriana" Siddig has never disappointed. So I was excited to find out these two fine actors were going to be starring opposite each other in a complex love story entitled "Cairo Time".

It's a movie set in the hustle and bustle of the largest city in Egypt and Clarkson's character, Juliette flies to Cairo in the hopes of connecting with her husband Mark who works for the U.N. for a much needed vacation. He's in Gaza and he's been delayed in getting to his wife so he asks an old friend and retired co-worker to look in on his wife. That friend is Siddig's character Tareq who when immediately after meeting Juliette offers her something she's denied herself for years. Was it because of her husband or her lifestyle? You never find out but when she does eventually indulge you can see the walls begin to fall and you see Juliette begin to feel free.

Early on Juliette gets herself in some trouble in Cairo. Walking the streets without being "properly dressed" she is almost attacked by the young men who liked what they saw. So much so that they chased her into a store and the proprietor had to shoo the men away. There are other mistakes made along the way along with some matrimonial bickering with the ever delayed husband Mark. To the rescue of possible physical altercations and plain old boredom comes the ever charming and ever graceful Tareq.

A friendship is formed amidst the beauty and the grit of Cairo and as Juliette grows more comfortable with her surroundings, she grow more comfortable with Tareq. She even begins toying with the idea of staying in Cairo. Much in the way the city has, Tareq has grown on Juliette and while she loves her husband dearly, she likes the way Tareq makes her feel beautiful again. She likes the freedom he represents and just when you think she's about to take that step, just when she wants to take that step, she can't.

Written and directed by Ruba Nadda, Cairo Time is a very sweet and heartbreaking love story between two people seemingly happy with the way their lives turned out only to realize they may have missed out on so much more. And while the score is forgettable, the cinematography is not. It captures the beauty of the architecture, the grandeur, and the madness of Cairo in vivid fashion that it feels like you've visited the city without ever getting on a plane. I really enjoyed this movie and would definitely recommend it.

See you at the theater!