The Losers

As summer is quickly approaching, another season of blockbuster films are about to be released. There will be comic book action movies, the R-rated comedy hits, and all kinds of films that more times than not, always please the audience. However, all entertaining action film do not have to come out in the summer. A good example is “The Losers," a fast-paced, shoot-em-up action film which is good enough to tide me over until the summer season.

Meet the Losers, a team of five men that carry out special missions for the U.S. government. Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) is the leader of the group that controls the operations. Pouch (Columbus Short) is the one that knows technology (in one scene he refers to himself as the black MacGyver). Roque (Idris Elba) is one of the tougher guys that does not always agree with the decisions made by the team. Cougar (Oscar Jaenada) is the sharpshooter who almost never misses with his sniper rifle. Last is the team’s funniest and most sarcastic member, Jensen (Chris Evans). These five are performing an operation in Bolivia and everything is going well until a group of children show up at the location that an air strike is about to be carried out in. When Clay tries to call off the air strike, he is talked to by a man named Max who, after the operation, tries to kill The Losers. Now presumed to be dead, The Losers are living in South America knowing that if they return, Max will most likely find them and kill them. Clay soon meets a girl named Aisha (Zoe Saldana) who claims to know how to get to Max. Longing for revenge, Clay and his team agrees to go with the girl back into the U.S. in an undercover operation to pay back Max and to clear their names.

The main attraction to "The Losers" is the action. Whether it involves chases, fist-fights, or gun slinging madness, this film is covered with action from start to finish. I figured this out at the very beginning in which the first ten minutes of the film consist of the five men taking out fifty bad guys. Is it pointless action? No. Is it well shot, entertaining action? YES! Many times action films only focus on action while totally ignoring other things, but thankfully this isn't the case for "The Losers."

Not only does this film have action, it also contains quite a bit of comedy (a good mix for a film). The Losers can take down men easily and they can crack jokes while doing it too. Most humor in the film is seen from my favorite character, Jensen that was played by Chris Evans who has played a smart-talking "hero" before (The Human Torch from the "Fantastic Four" films). Since I'm talking about comedy, this would be a good time to talk about the antagonist of the film, Max(Jason Patrick). You could tell from the dialogue and the way that Jason Patrick delivered his lines that the makers of the film were intending for the character of Max to be a both humorous and at the same time cruel villain. Sadly, the character was hardy funny and more of a wannabe villain than a smooth-talking, sarcastic bad guy.

A pro for "The Losers" is that the film had good acting. I am primarily speaking about Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Chris Evans who, after both staring in past comic-book films, showed that they are capable of being entertaining action stars(which is great for Chris Evans since he will portray Captain America next year). A con is that the film doesn't really have a complex story line and because of this, it doesn't focus that much on it's characters. One thing I would have liked to have seen was maybe a brief back story to each of the five members of The Losers.

"The Losers" is without a doubt a film that most action lovers will enjoy. Though it lacks a few things, the film makes up for it with good acting, plenty of action, and laughs. Once again, the movie is good enough to tide me over until May 7th ("Iron Man 2!!). I give it two and a half stars out of four.

"The Losers has a running time of 98 minutes and is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense action and violence, a scene of sensuality and language.

Casting Call: The First Avenger Captain America

It seems that things are coming together for Marvel's last movie before the main attraction hitting theaters in 2012 that is the Avengers. After this summer's Iron Man 2 and next summers Thor, Marvel will release one more film about the leader of the super hero team that consists of Iron Man, Thor, Hulk, Nick Fury, Black Widow, and the leader himself...Captain America. Major casting for The First Avenger: Captain America been announced throughout this past month. The role of Cap's sidekick, Bucky Barnes, will be played by Sebastian Stan (Gossip Girls). The role of the villain, the Nazi general named The Red Skull, will be played by Hugo Weaving (Agent Smith from the Matrix saga). Last but certainly not least, Captain America will be played by a man that has already been part the Marvel Universe...Chris Evans. Most will know Evans from his role as The Human Torch from the Fantastic Four films. I'm liking these casting decisions so far (except for Stan since I've never heard of him.) The film itself will center around WW2 and feature the super hero team, The Invaders. In the original comics, the Invaders included Cap, Namor, and an older version of the Human Torch. I expect that the end of the film will show how Captain America gets frozen and survives till present day where he is found by Nick Fury to lead the Avengers.

How to Train Your Dragon in a nutshell

Who doesn't love Dreamworks films? I mean there's "Shrek" (awesome), "Madagascar", and "Kung Fu Panda." The newest addition to these characters is Hiccup, a scrawny son of a viking king who constantly has a pest problem on his hands...dragons. Hiccup was never meant to kill a dragon with his bare hands like everyone else. Instead he tries to use his inventions to do the job and one day it works. Hiccup doesn't catch just any old dragon, he catches the fastest, most dangerous kind of dragon called a Night Fury. When Hiccup realizes he can't kill the dragon, he decides to train the dragon and comes to name it Toothless (due to the fact that at first, the dragon seems to have no teeth.) The two embark on an adventure as Hiccup realizes that the dragons are nothing like the vikings make them out to be. This journey includes laughs, thrills, and a dragon so big that, if this wasn't a kids movie, would have killed all the dragons and vikings. Like all Dreamworks films, the animation is stunning. The different kinds of dragons, variety of vikings, and the scenery showed that the people at Dreamworks are moving in the right direction. The script was funny and contained absolutely no cheesy material. The films plot was firm and didn't wonder off into unneeded side stories *cough* Transformers 2 *cough* and the story was enjoyable and original. By the way, for some unknown reason, knowing that the head viking was voiced by Gerard Butler (300) made me enjoy the character more (like when he was laying the beat down on multiple dragons). So, in a nutshell, go see "How to Train Your Dragon." It's just proof the Dreamworks is getting closer and closer to topping Pixar.

Clash of the Titans

The many stories and adventures of Greek mythology have been retold in many ways in our pop culture including various books and movies. Now Greek mythology returns once again in this remake of an 80's film under the same name. Some differences between the two? Well, the plot has been tweaked, there are more action sequences, and the CGI has been ramped up tenfold. As stated in the tag line for the film, titans will clash in this new action extravaganza, "Clash of the Titans."

Perseus(Sam Worthington) never knew his parents. His mother had been drowned by being locked in a coffin and his father, little does he know, just so happens to be the Greek god of lightning, Zeus(Liam Neeson). A fisherman found Perseus and raised him until he was an adult. When the family finds their way to Argos, where a group of soldiers destroys a statue of Zeus, Hades(Ralph Fiennes) rises from the seas and kills everyone around him (save Perseus and a few soldiers) including Perseus' parents. In Argos, the people are celebrating the return of the surviving soldiers of Hades' attack and are comparing themselves and the princess Andromeda to the gods. Of course this doesn't settle well with Zeus therefore the god of lightning allows Hades to attack Argos. During this attack, Hades kills the remaining soldiers with whom Perseus is standing. When Hades' attack has no effect on Perseus, he becomes aware that Perseus is a demi-god and tells him that he is the son of Zeus. After that Hades threatens Argos with destruction by the hands of the Kraken, a monstrous beast that had overthrown the Titans enabling the gods to rule in the first place. The only way to prevent this is to sacrifice Andromeda. Perseus then volunteers to lead a band of warriors to find a way to kill the Kraken and ultimately get his revenge and kill Hades.

Sam Worthington has gone from part machine, to part alien, to part god in his acting career and has proved himself to be a good actor. Alongside Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, "Titans" boasts an "A" list cast, but does the film make good use of the actors? Well, yes and no. While I enjoyed the fact that it was Liam Neeson portraying the king of the gods, it is hard to take him seriously when his armor is shining like the sun and his beard goes down to his stomach. All of the gods except Hades also have shining clothes that could have been toned down. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed Ralph Fiennes's performance as the evil god of the Underworld. The same menace seen in his other character, Lord Voldemort from the "Harry Potter" series, is poured into this character as well. Hades is definitely my favorite character in the movie.

For those who have seen the old "Clash of the Titans," they will realize that the biggest difference between the two films is the CGI. The first film used stop-motion effects to create effects such as Medusas' snake hair and the giant Kraken. In the new version, of course, CGI is used to create the giant scorpions, the flying horses, Medusa, and the Kraken that is so big it could probably make the Empire State Building collapse with its steps.

The only downside to the film is that it is cheesy/hokey at times. It is mostly the script but other hokey factors include unneeded characters that are meant to be comic relief, or events that play out and in the end are not necessary. There are also several characters that the film should not have included. For example, a desert tribe of monsters that aid Perseus in his quest are of no importance. If they were kept out, the film would be just the same. These two downsides to the film barely ruined my enjoyment of the film because I was expecting these problems to be there in the first place.

How would I describe "Clash of the Titans" in a nutshell? A slightly hokey, entertaining action film with very impressive visual effects. For myself, a fan of Greek mythology, this film was very enjoyable in almost every way. Oh and as a last remark, do not spend the extra money on the 3D showing. I give it two and a half stars out of four.

"Clash of the Titans" has a running time of one hour and fifty-eight minutes and is rated PG-13 for fantasy action violence, some frightening images and brief sensuality.

Alice in Wonderland

As we all know, Tim Burton is the master at directing dark, crazy films with past works like "The Nightmare Before Christmas", "Sleepy Hollow", "The Corpse Bride" and "Edward Scissorhands." All of his films can be classified as eerie, dark, weird, etc. So of course, who else could be more than capable of directing a film about a magical land with talking animals, a mad hatter, and a smoking caterpillar? Sure enough, Tim Burton has once again shown us a wild, crazy world that has re-imagined the magical adventure that is, "Alice in Wonderland."

In this re-imagining of the classic tale, we see nineteen year old Alice (Mia Wasikowska) that has just been proposed to by a less than charming snob. Out of her nerves, Alice runs away following a rabbit that she sees and eventually falls down it's hole. At the bottom of the hole, Alice arrives in Underland and several creatures including the white rabbit, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, and several other animals who are arguing about whether or not they brought back the right Alice. Soon the creatures are captured and Alice runs away and eventually ends up at the Mad Hatter's (Johnny Depp) house. Here, the Mad Hatter informs Alice that the Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter) has taken over Underland and that the only way to defeat her is by slaying the Jabberwocky, a dragon controlled by the Red Queen.

There's just one problem with this...Alice believes that this is all a big dream. Alice has no intentions of slaying the Jabberwocky and wants to go home as soon as possible. However, when friends get captured and problems arise, Alice must put aside her unwillingness and embark on a journey that is as crazy as the Mad Hatter himself.

"Alice in Wonderland" reminded me a lot of "Avatar" in the way that almost everything from the characters to the scenery is CGI. The creative plants, animals, structures, and Underland itself are almost all green screen. In fact, once in Underland, only Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) are real people without the aid of CGI. Everything looks great and well edited on screen and the high quality 3D (this is the way to see the film) definitely makes it look better.

The characters are also very creative. The most enjoyable character is of course the Mad Hatter played brilliantly by Johnny Depp. Depp and Burton considered so many things when imagining this character and those ideas play out beautifully in the movie. An interesting detail about the Mad Hatter is that his clothes, eyes, and even accent change with his moods. For example, when angry the Hatter has dark red eyes and would switch from an English accent to a Scottish one. Not only is the Mad Hatter funny but he can put up a fight as seen in a couple scenes in the film including the climax in which he faces off with the Knave of Hearts (Crispin Glover). Other interesting characters include the Red Queen who has a crazy desire to cut off other people's/thing's heads, the Cheshire Cat who aids several characters throughout the film from being in danger, and a wise, smoking caterpillar named Absolem (voiced by Alan Rickman) who appears to Alice several times in the film to offer her guidance.

The acting is great and of course how couldn't it be when led by a great actor like Johnny Depp. It feels like each actor works hard to make their own character unique and entertaining. The Mad Hatter has his different accents, the Red Queen has her funny habits and personality, and the White Queen has her out-there persona. So on and so forth, each character was incredibly unique and added to the films wonderful creativity.

Tim Burton has given us a magical film with laughs, action, and a trunk load of creativity that comes together brilliantly to recreate the wacky tale of "Alice in Wonderland". It has interesting characters, an entertaining fight sequence, and even an insane dance by the Mad Hatter near the end. "Alice in Wonderland" has enough magic to make anyone want to follow that rabbit down the rabbit hole. I give it three and half stars out of four.

"Alice in Wonderland" has a running time of 1 hour and 58 minutes and is rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situation, and for a smoking caterpillar.

Shutter Island

First of all, before I saw this film(oh yes, I saw two films back to back), I went to see "Valentines Day"(worst movie in the last year or two)with people in my class so after that cheesy love fest, this film seemed like a godly piece of art. In "Valentine's Day" you don't have to think at all but you better turn your brain and attention span way up for this film you're about to read about. Martin Scorsese's new dramatic thriller has twists, turns, and moments that will have you saying, "What the heck?!" Headed by the brilliant performance of Leonardo DiCaprio and a strong effort from Ben Kingsly, get ready for the psychological thriller that is "Shutter Island."

U.S. Marshal Teddy Daniels(DiCaprio) accompanied by his partner Chuck Aule(Mark Ruffalo) are being sent to Shutter Island, an institution/prison for the worst of the worst that are criminally insane. The two are being sent there to help in the search for a missing prisoner named Rachel Solando who is considered a danger to be on the loose. On the island, they are forced to give up their weapons, a dangerous hurricane is preventing them from leaving when they please, and the director of Shutter Island, Dr. John Cawley(Ben Kingsley), is being far from helpful in the investigation. Teddy Daniels is also aware that a man named Andrew Laeddis, who burned down a building causing Teddy's wife to die, is being held on the island and Teddy is intent on finding him to settle unfinished business. With patients not acting as usual, rumors of human experimentation being thrown around, and the chances of the U.S. Marshals getting off the eerie island grow smaller and smaller, Teddy will struggle to hold on to his own sanity as he tries to unravel the secrets of Shutter Island.

Now the first thing I have to say is...FALSE ADVERTISING!! Some may feel disinclined to seeing "Shutter Island" because in the trailers, they make it seem like a horror film. I assure you this film is in NO way a horror film. In fact, in my opinion, it barely passes as a thriller. It is more like a very suspenseful drama with dark themes and at times disturbing images. I would say that there is one scene that would be classified as scary and besides that the rest of the film just has a dark eerie feel. Patients act weird and can sometimes come across as scary, there are disturbing flashbacks that Teddy has, and then there are visions that aren't as much scary as much as they are crazy and eerie.

Now almost everyone loves a good mystery film because you can expect a good, surprising ending and that is the case with "Shutter Island." The film had an incredible ending and not only was the end great but the whole film kept you guessing with many theories you might have had. If anyone watches the ABC show, "Lost"(my favorite) they would know that at many times in every episode, there are several cases where you find yourself saying "What?!", "Whoa", or "This is insane" and I was reminded of those times all through "Shutter Island." The film kept me guessing the entire time.

One of the best things about this film was the acting. Of course great acting is to be expected when you see that Leonardo DiCaprio is at the lead. He portrayed his character brilliantly as a man that is struggling to hold on to his sanity on an island that he can't seem to escape. Mark Ruffalo gives a good performance as Teddy's amature partner that is willing to do whatever Teddy needs or wants. Ben Kingsly had probably the best performance behind DiCaprio as he plays the head doctor who cares and listens to his patients and longs to heal them.

After the film I talked to someone else who had seen it with me and he told me his thoughts on the message of the film and after thinking on it, what he had to say made me enjoy the film even more. All people live with some kind of despair and agony that they can't be rid of just like the inmates of Shutter Island. As people in despair, we need someone, like Ben Kingsley's character, to help us and listen to us and save us from our despair. We all need a savior.

"Shutter Island" is a great film with great acting and enough suspense to fill several thriller movies. You will never stop guessing and never stop enjoying the twists and turns and in the end...well, you'll just have to see it. I give it 3 stars out of 4.

"Shutter Island" has a running time of two hours and eighteen minutes and is rated R for some disturbing violent content, langauge and some nudity.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Theif

Over the many years there have been numerous books, films, games, etc. pertaining to Greek mythology but none of them have been quite like this. In "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief," we see how the Greek gods and monsters look and act like in the 21st century. Based on Rick Riordan's best selling series, "Percy Jackson" is an action packed tale that will surely be the start of an exciting new series.

In "Percy Jackson" we are introduced to Poseidon(Kevin McKidd) and Zeus(Sean Bean) who are arguing with each other on top of the Empire State Building. Zeus's lightning bolt(the most powerful weapon on Earth) has been stolen and Zeus suspects Poseidon's son, Percy Jackson(Logan Lerman) who is known as a demi-god which means half god half mortal. Because of this, numerous creatures(not all of them being good) try to hunt down Percy to get back the bolt because if it is not returned to Zeus, a war will break out between gods and Earth would fall apart as the gods wreaked havoc among each other.

As Percy is hunted, a centaur named Chiron(Peirce Brosnan) takes him away to Camp Half Blood to train with other demi-gods so that he will be able to stand up against the dangerous creatures that hunt him. Unfortunately, right before they enter the camp, Percy's mother is captured by a minion of Hades(Steve Coogan) and Percy becomes less intent of clearing his name with Zues and more intent on rescuing his mother. Now Percy, his friend Grover, and the daughter of Athena, Annabeth, embark on a quest across the U.S. to save Percy's mother and to clear his name with Zeus.

Wondering what the gods look like in modern day New York? Well, when they're on Mount Olympus, the gods actually look exactly the same as they would in any other tale (with the exception of Hades in the Underworld.) It's when they come out into New York that we see them transform from their togas into trench coats and pants(this is a cool effect/idea.) Besides gods, there were many mythical creatures that appear in the film. Examples are minotaurs, centaurs, and even the classic Greek antagonist Medusa(Uma Thurman). While Uma Thurman's Medusa has been modernized with the nice coat and sunglasses, the other creatures like Pierce Brosnan's centaur character still seem stuck in ancient times. These different creatures that are seen throughout the film give it a "Chronicles of Narnia" feel.

Now in the series that "Percy Jackson" is based on, Percy is just going into sixth grade; however, in the film, it is clear that he is at least in 10th or 11th grade(though it is not specified; the actor that plays Percy is 17). While I agree that this was probably a necessary decision to make, it also allowed for a darker more mature film. Unfortunately, even though the film was marketed to kids, it was indeed dark and it even had strong sensual themes at times. Some creatures (primarily Hades and Medusa) will most likely frighten a young child whose parents probably don't expect that kind of eerie feel to be in the film. Other things like the Underworld (in which skulls, fire, and destruction fill the atmosphere) are are very intense scenes. "Percy Jackson" also has very sensual/adult themes in select scenes. Near the beginning, Percy's friend comes across a group of girls and he tells Percy that he must go show them love because everyone knows where that leads...WHAT! You're marketing this film to children and this is what they are seeing and learning about the hero's of the film? As if that's not enough, he's seen several other times throughout the film with groups of women. Now the kids already are seeing the hero being some careless ladies man but oh no, he also is being hit on by Hades's wife where it is implied that they are about to "hook up" with each other showing the kids adultery and more sensual themes that are unnecessary. Overall, the idea of marketing this as a kid's movie...not the best idea. In fact I think it would have been better to intensify the film and go with the PG-13 approach, marketing it to teens and adults.

The other slightly disappointing factor about the film is that though the film is based around modern day Greek mythology, the actual gods didn't receive that much screen time. This was unfortunate because some of the gods/and the centaur, Chrion, were played by the better and more experienced actors(Sean Bean, Steve Coogan, Pierce Brosnan). I would have enjoyed the film more if I would have gotten to see Zeus, Poseidon, etc. in action with their powers. The only "god smack down" was in the end of the film and that was fought between two demi-gods.

Upsides to the film...good acting, good action and adventure, creative visual scenery, and overall a good start to what will hopefully be a popular franchise. I enjoyed "Percy Jackson" a great deal and it was much better than I was expecting it to be. But for future reference, 20th Century Fox, if you want to make a kids film, don't film it with adulterous wives, fire demons, and a snake covered, decapitated head being carried around half the film. Despite, the not so smart marketing decisions, "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief" still deserves a two and a half stars out of four.

"Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lighting Thief" has a running time of two hours, and is rated PG for action violence and peril, some scary images and suggestive material, and mild language.