Action Movies: January 2011

Friday, 28 January 2011

Inception (DVD)

Inception (DVD)
By Leonardo DiCaprio

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First tagged by mirasreviews
Customer tags: inception(58), leonardo dicaprio(50), christopher nolan(50), alternate reality(42), subconscious(38), dreaming(38), action(36), mystery(26), drama(23), science fiction(15), ellen page(8), dreams(8)

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Review & Description

Acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan directs an international cast in this sci-fi actioner that travels around the globe and into the world of dreams. Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is the best there is at extraction: stealing valuable secrets inside the subconscious during the mind’s vulnerable dream state. His skill has made him a coveted player in industrial espionage but also has made him a fugitive and cost him dearly. Now he may get a second chance if he can do the impossible: inception, planting an idea rather than stealing one. If they succeed, Cobb and his team could pull off the perfect crime. But no planning or expertise can prepare them for a dangerous enemy that seems to predict their every move. An enemy only Cobb could have seen coming.Science-fiction features often involve time travel or strange worlds. In Christopher Nolan's heist thriller Inception, the concepts converge through the realm of dreams. With his trusty associate, Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, a fine foil), Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio, in a role that recalls Shutter Island) steals ideas for clients from the minds of competitors. Fallen on hard times, he's become estranged from his family and hopes one last extraction will set things right. Along comes Saito (Ken Watanabe, Batman Begins), who hires Cobb to plant an idea in the mind of energy magnate Fischer (Cillian Murphy, another Batman vet). Less experienced with the art of inception, Cobb ropes in an architecture student (Ellen Page), a chemist (Dileep Rao), and a forger (Tom Hardy) for assistance. During their preparations, Page's Ariadne stumbles upon a secret that may jeopardize the entire operation: Cobb is losing the ability to control his subconscious (Marion Cotillard plays a figure from his past). Until this point, the scenario can be confusing, since the action begins inside a dream before returning to reality. Then, after the team gets to Fischer, three dream states play out at once, resulting in four narratives, including events in the real world. It all makes sense within the rules Nolan establishes, but the impatient may find themselves much like Guy Pearce in Memento: completely confused. If Inception doesn't hit the same heights as The Dark Knight, Nolan's finest film to date, it's a gravity-defying spectacular to rival Dark City and The Matrix. --Kathleen C. Fennessy Read more

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Sunday, 9 January 2011

The A-Team (DVD)

The A-Team (DVD)
By Liam Neeson

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First tagged by William Amazzini
Customer tags: bradley cooper(23), action(23), a-team(22), action adventure(21), liam neeson(21), jessica biel(17), sharlto copley(8), crazy(8), a-team movie(8), action thriller(7), quinton jackson(5), popcorn(3)

Review & Description

CONVICTED BY A MILITARY COURT FOR A CRIME THEY DIDNT COMMIT, A DARING TEAM OF FORMER SPECIAL FORCES SOLDIERS MUST UTILIZE THEIR UNIQUE TALENTS TO BREAK OUT OF PRISON AND TACKLE THEIR TOUGHEST MISSION YET. ITS GOING TO TAKE GUTS, SPLIT-SECOND TIMING AND AN ARSENAL OF EXPLOSIVE WEAPONS.Give it up to the A-Team: they've always been good at demolishing things in big, big ways. Freed from the confines of the 1980s TV series, the 2010 blockbuster movie version allows the four members of the paramilitary squad to really amp up the mayhem to newly crazed heights. Liam Neeson plays team leader Hannibal Smith (inheriting the cigar-chomping from the show's George Peppard), and pro wrestler Quinton "Rampage" Jackson is "B.A." Baracus, the TV show's most iconic character (insert Mr. T "I pity the fool" joke here). As the vain Face, Bradley Cooper preens in convincing fashion, and District 9 out-of-nowhere star Sharlto Copley plays the unhinged pilot "Howlin' Mad" Murdock. These boys are on the trail of some money-counterfeiting plates, from Bagdad to Germany to places in between. It would be understating it to say that the plot is not of primary importance, although Patrick Wilson has some fun as a CIA official and Jessica Biel occasionally strikes poses as Face's ex-flame, now a military officer displeased with the A-Team's extra-legal shenanigans. The storytelling is insipid and half-hearted--but when it comes to snarky dialogue and two-fisted action scenes, director Joe Carnahan is in his comfort zone. It's reasonably fun watching the working-out of such logistical puzzles as dropping a tank (with crew inside) from a plane, or scattering the main characters on a dockside as cargo containers rain down from a ship looming above them. Good times, although is it asking too much for certain basic laws of physics (if you drop a human body ten stories, for instance, it might actually sustain injuries) to be used as a guideline? But worrying about such matters isn't in the spirit of The A-Team, which cheerfully ignores the petty concerns of credibility and logic. --Robert Horton Read more

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Friday, 7 January 2011

Gone in 60 Seconds (DVD)

Gone in 60 Seconds (DVD)
By Edward Abrahms

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First tagged by woody
Customer tags: action(11), automotive(9), car movie(6), dvd(6), adventure(3), good driving, gone, 60, action movies, nicolas cage, in, horror

Review & Description

You ve seen all the chase films - now see the one that started it all. A runaway theatrical hit in 1974 GONE IN 60 SECONDS defined the genre of the car chase film and became an instant classic. Now it s back - fully restored and digitally remastered. The Assignment: to steal 48 luxury cars and sport vehicles. The Challenge: avoid getting caught! When the cops finally catch up with master thief Pace Maindrain he rocks them through a 40-minute full-throttle chase wrecking half of Los Angeles making his escape. With unstoppable action and edge of your seat suspense Gone In 60 Seconds slams you on a rocket ride you ll never forget!System Requirements:Written directed by and starring: H.B. "Toby" Halicki. Running Time: 98 Min. Color. This film is presented in "Widescreen" format. Copyright 1974 c H.B. Halicki Productions.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: PG UPC: 741027117165When car nut and aspiring B movie maverick H.B. "Toby" Halicki released his debut film, he gave top billing to his car, a yellow 1973 Ford Mustang named Eleanor. That's a good indication of Halicki's priorities in the original car-crunching, tire-squealing drive-in classic Gone in 60 Seconds. Halicki wrote, produced, starred, and did all of his own extraordinary stunt driving in the picture, the story of a career car thief who makes a deal to steal 48 cars for an overseas smuggler. OK, it's not Shakespeare. The plot is perfunctory at best, and Halicki's all thumbs when it comes to directing his wooden cast, but he gives a crash course in the mechanics of the car-theft biz and tops it off with one of the greatest car chases of all time: a 40-minute finale that roars through five Los Angeles-basin towns and destroys 93 cars in the process. It's a masterpiece of stunt driving, down-and-dirty photography, and sharp, furious cutting; the unsung hero of the picture is editor Warner Leighton, who paces the film perfectly and never lets it stall. Forget the messy Nicolas Cage in-name-only remake, this is outlaw auto cinema at its purest. --Sean Axmaker Read more

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