Movies you saw in June 2016

The Usual Suspects (1995) American "neo-noir" mystery crime thriller staring Stephen Baldwin, Gabriel Byrne, Benicio del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite and Kevin Spacey. decent action but mostly a mystery with a number of interesting plot "twists". well acted by all involved and garnered the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for Spacey and the Best Writing - Original Screenplay Oscar. runs an hour 45 minutes and really has NO "filler". Spacey's character is #48 on the AFI's "top 50 villains" list. plays again on HD Net Movies Monday June 20th @ 9:55am and Tuesday June 21st @ 7:05am. I really like movies on HD Net because they are usually shown in their original movie theater 2X1 perspective rather than "skinny scope" like this one is. I found it to be a very entertaining movie and rate it    of four

Point of No Return (1993) decent BUT not as good remake of the 1990 French action-thriller La Femme Nikita with Bridget Fonda in the "Nikita" roll, Gabriel Byrne as her mentor Bob, Anne Bancroft the "social trainer" Amanda and Harvey Keitel as the "cleaner" Victor. has some good action early on and at the end BUT, like the original, gets caught up with the "love story" between Maggie (the Nikita in this movie) and her boyfriend J. P. (played by Dermot Mulroney) which is pretty much "filler". Keitel is OK as Victor but NOT nearly as good as Jean Reno in the original which was a roll that lead to Reno being cast as the hit man Leon in The Professional (1994) which is one of my all time favorite crime-action movies. it is worth a look mostly to compare the two movies and plays again on Cinemax channels Monday June 20th and Wednesday the 22nd. I rate it of four

13 Hours

agree 100% as I stated in a review earlier this month

The Equalizer (2014) I have reviewed this before. it is an excellent crime-vigilante action move with pretty much non-stop action staring Denzel Washington as retired CIA black ops operative Robert McCall taking on the Russian mob in Boston. for me the best and most compelling character other than McCall is Johnny Skourtis as "Ralphie" who McCall mentors as he works on going from store clerk to security guard at the hardware super store they both work at. the Russians lead by Marton Csokas as "Teddy" are all real "nasty baztard" villains. runs just over 2 hours and I don't get bored watching it numerous times. plays again on Starz channels Wednesday June 22nd, Saturday the 25th, Sunday the 26th, Monday the 27th and again Wednesday the 29th. I rate it    of four

Starman (1984) sci-fi romance film that is an early "tour de force" for Jeff Bridges as the humanoid alien that assumes the cloned identity of a deceased Wisconsin man Scott Hayden and coerces his widow Jenny, played by Karen Allen, to drive him to the Barringer Crater in Arizona desert. the movie is mostly about the adventure of getting to the Crater for a rendezvous with Starman's people while being chased by government operatives. Charles Martin Smith is excellent as SETI scientist Mark Shermin, who is sympathetic to Starman's plight and want's to help him get home. the movie is well acted by all involved and has some good action and is also VERY funny in spots. Bridges was nominated for a Best Actor Oscar. plays again on Sony Movie Channel Sunday June 26th @ 10:10am and Monday June 27th @ 5:20am pacific time. I rate it    of four

The Equalizer 

ME TOO. Denzel's character of Robert McCall definitely NOT someone you want to "pizz off". I am wondering IF they will do some kind of sequel? it was a box office HIT worldwide. my only complaint with the move is WHAT did McCall do with the "hand sledge" hammer to the punk robber that stole the cashier's ring? we can only imagine. I would also like to see more movie rolls for Johnny Skourtis. he was REALLY good as "Ralphie" who shows great bravery at the end of the movie

Woman in Gold (2015) interesting "holocaust" themed drama based on the true story of the Maria Altmann, an elderly J*ewish refugee living in Los Angeles, who, together with her young lawyer, Randy Schoenberg, fought the government of Austria for almost a decade to reclaim Gustav Klimt's iconic painting of her aunt, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I (the "Woman in Gold"), which was stolen from her relatives by the Nazis in Vienna just prior to World War II. Altmann took her legal battle all the way to the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled on the case Republic of Austria v. Altmann in 2004. it stars Helen Mirren as Maria Altmann and Ryan Reynolds as Randy Schoenberg. it's kind of slow BUT interesting for "courtroom drama" fans. also the escape from the Nazis scene of young Maria played by Tatiana Maslany and here opera singer husband  Fritz  Altmann played by Max Irons (son of the great Jeremy Irons) is heart stopping action-suspense as are some of the other "flashback" scenes. plays again on Showtime channels Thursday June 23rd, Saturday the 25th, Monday the 27th, Wednesday the 29th and again Thursday the 30th. I rate it   of four

Independence Day: Resurgence     Saw it today... fast paced for sure, the 2 hours flew by.  Story picks up 20 years after the original invasion dubbed the "War of 1996".   All the major cast members who survived the original show up except for Will Smith.   Special effects were pretty good and stayed true to the first movie.  Decent popcorn flick with tons of plot holes and eye rolling moments but it is what it is.  I had low expectations but was entertained.  

Labyrinth of Lies (2014) interesting German crime-drama film about the investigation leading to the 1963 Frankfurt Auschwitz trials which was the first time the post-war German Federal government had tried any former SS who had been involved in running Hitler's death camps. it is in German with subtitles and that is kind of a pain BUT I thought it was VERY well acted by all involved and is a compelling story. one interesting revelation in the movie is that the infamous Auschwitz camp doctor Josef Mengele, who escaped to Argentina after the war, used to travel back to Germany to visit his family in the 1950's and was actually protected from arrest by Nazi sympathizers in the German Federal Government and police. plays again on  the Starz-Cinema channel again Saturday June 25th @ 4:55pm. I rate it   of four BUT they probably could have "told the tale" in less than it's 2 hours 5 minutes

Kill Kane (2016) British action-"revenge" drama staring Vinnie Jones about a man who's family is murdered by gangsters after he witnesses a mob "execution" type murder. Vinnie is one of my favorite English "action" type actors esp after playing "Bullet Tooth Tony" in Snatch (2000) BUT this thing is just a convoluted mess with it's jumping back and forth between the murder of his family and him taking out the murderers. Sarah Alexandra Marks IS a VERY foxie "british bird" as Vinnie's characters daughter and it may be worth watching just to "viddie" her. runs a short 75 minutes. played on Starz-Cinema channel and has NOT seen it listed again soon which is understandable as it is a BIG disappointment for Vinnie Jones fans. it's was pretty much

Hitman (2007) action-suspense movie about an raised from birth professional assassin caught up in Russian political intregue. stars Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47, Olga Kurylenko as Nika the Russian prostitute 47 is protecting from Russian political murderers trying to "shut her up", Dougray Scott as an Interpol agent who has been tracking 47 and Robert Knepper as Yuri a crooked Russian state police agent. good pretty much non-stop action. has oodles of fist fights, gun fights and chase scenes and is pretty much non-stop action during it's 90 minute run time.  I though Rotten Tomatoes was a bit harsh with an abysmal 14% "fresh" rating as it IS better than that for action fans. probably worth watching just for Kurylenko's nude scenes. Russian girls are WAY sexy. I rate it   of four


Hitman: Agent 47 (2015) the sequel to Hitman that I reviewed earlier this month. like the original it has oodles of fist fights, gun fights and chase scenes BUT has a rather convoluted plot with a LOT for "twists" like WHO is really the "good guy" and "bad guy" early on? overall it was an entertaining 95 minutes of pretty much non-stop action BUT I'm glad I didn't use a PPV certificate on it a month ago. Rupert Friend as Hitman 47 NOT as good as Timothy Olyphant in the first movie BUT Zachary Quinto very good as his opponent. like the original I though Rotten Tomatoes was WAY out of line with their sorry 8% "fresh" rating. like the original it IS worth a look for action fans and I rated it   of four

OOPS!!! forgot to mention that BOTH Hitman and Hitman: Agent 47 play on Cinemax channels this next week. I would watch the original first to compare

Lone Survivor