Red 2 (2013)

 “What happens in the Kremlin stays in the Kremlin!”

            Not very often do movie sequels work out. It is very rare that they are good let alone better than the first one. Red 2 is one of those rare movies that is even better than the first. It takes all the fun exciting elements of the first Red and turns them up ten notches.

            Frank Moses (Bruce Willis) is enjoying his nice quiet retired life with his girlfriend Sarah (Mary- Louise Parker) strolling through Costco when his old friend Marvin (John Malkovich) finds him. Marvin brings up the fact that Frank has not killed anyone in months. Frank likes that fact though, he is not looking for a fight or to kill anyone. Meanwhile, Sarah seems to be the one who wants all the excitement back in her life she seems to be bored in the quiet life. Marvin tells Frank that information leaked about an old Cold War weapon called Nightshade and their names are mentioned in the information.

            Their lives soon get turned upside down when Marvin “dies”. As Frank and Sarah leave the church Frank is taken in by federal agents. He is taken to a facility where he is being interrogated. While Frank is being interrogated a man named Jack Horton (Neal McDonough) comes storming through the building with a group of operatives who are looking to take Frank out. Of course Frank manages to escape and gets to Marvin (who is not dead he just faked his own death) and Sarah.

            As this is happening a hit is put on Frank’s life and the person sent to kill him is a Korean assassin named Han Cho Bai who has a big time grudge against Frank.

            In London, people are also after Victoria (Helen Mirren). MI6 rings her and tells her she has been assigned to kill Frank. She in turns rings up Frank and tells him about the hit.

            Frank, Marvin and Sarah travel to Paris to question a weapons dealer nicknamed The Frog. In Paris Frank comes across an old flame named Katja (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Katja is a Russian and she and Frank have a romantic as well as enemy relationship. Sarah is not thrilled when she sees how hypnotized Frank is by Katja and is constantly asking if they can kill Katja.         

            The team eventually finds out that the Nightshade weapon was developed by a man named Dr. Edward Bailey (Anthony Hopkins). He has been in an asylum for thirty-two years by MI6. Frank, Sarah, and Victoria bust him out. Bailey tells them his weapon that had been lost in Russia is hidden beneath the Kremlin. When they get the weapon they find out that Bailey was locked away because he wanted to activate the weapon not, as they had been told, because he was crazy.

            The cast is once again brilliant. And once again Mary-Louise Parker and John Malkovich steal the entire movie. Parker I was dying laughing with, again, because of her facial expressions they were so hilarious. I loved how jealous Sarah was with Katja and Parker just knocked those scenes out. Her funniest scene was at the end… and that is all I will say because it is too funny to give away. Helen Mirren I enjoyed more here than in the first one because she was just completely bad ass. She shot off more guns and killed more people than the first time. One of her first scenes was her cleaning up two dead bodies she had made and then destroying them in her hotel bathroom in the bathtub by dowsing them with chemicals and all without batting an eye. That is an awesome bitch in my eyes. Catherine Zeta- Jones is not in the movie for very long which is a shame because she and Bruce Willis worked very well together in their scenes. I hate seeing Neal McDonough as a bad guy but he was very good. I always enjoy seeing him in things. Anthony Hopkins was alright he did not make too much of an impression on me.

            From beginning to the end of Red 2 I was laughing and immensely entertained. Red 2 had a perfect balance of action, comedy, and drama. It is just all around a very well made movie from the acting, writing, direction, action to just everything. I highly suggest seeing this movie especially if you need to let go and have a good laugh. 

Rock of Ages (2012)

“This place is about to become a sea of sweat, ear-shattering music and puke.” 

            I am not sure how I feel about Rock of Ages. It was not bad but it was not like “wow that was awesome!”. I was not attracted to the all star cast or all the glittering sets and pictures I just wanted to hear the music and how everyone sounded on the songs. I was not disappointed with pretty much all the songs they were sung very well.

            The story is neither new nor creative. Sherrie (Julianne Hough) comes to Los Angeles in 1987 to try to become a singer from her small town in Oklahoma. Ho, hum bored with the plot already I know I was too. Sherrie gets mugged and a nice sweet boy named Drew (Diego Boneta) helps her. He works across the street at a famous bar called the Bourbon Room. A waitress has walked out and they are in need of a new one (oh movie luck). Drew begs his boss Dennis (Alec Baldwin) to hire Sherrie and, oh hey, she gets the job, big shock there.

            Everyone who works in the bar worships the singer Stacee Jaxx (Tom Cruise). He is a rock god with some of the biggest hits of the decade with his band Arsenal. Dennis is lucky enough to have Arsenal play their last gig at his place before Stacee goes solo. Meanwhile the new mayor of Los Angeles (Brian Cranston) wants to rid the strip of all the vice that lurks on the streets and get rid of the Bourbon Room and all with the help of his supposed bible banging wife Patricia (Catherine Zeta-Jones).

            So yeah it is the story of an aging rocker with some issues, a woman fighting against rock n’ roll when she was once its biggest groupies, the main guy and girl having a fall out because he thinks she screwed the rock star when she did not, an old rock club that might be shut down, and an oily manager who wants the money and does not care about music as art. Pretty much summed the movie up right here.

            Now I am going to get to what I really want to write about: the performances both acting and singing. Julianne Hough and Diego Boneta were alright. Hough’s singing voice was too high for me and I felt she ruined some of the songs she sang on. Boneta is handsome (I feel weird saying this since he is three years younger than me... whatever I would totally be a cougar with guy!) with a great singing voice but by the end of the movie he got on my nerves. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Mary J. Blige’s characters were completely pointless. THE BEST performances come from Tom Cruise, Malin Akerman, Alec Baldwin, and Russell Brand. First off, the best song and scene of the movie is when Cruise and Akerman sing “I Want to Know What Love Is.” Who knew Malin Akerman could sing?! I had no idea and she was awesome! The scene is hysterical and both actors sound fantastic on the song. Cruise was brilliant he completely made the entire movie. The role is so different for him but he just nailed it. And holy crap can the dude belt out those notes! Cruise hit notes that amazed me mostly because I could not believe he could sing. I have never been attracted to Tom Cruise whatsoever I can never see in him what other women see but here he is so HOT!! Alec Baldwin and Russell Brand were like a team. Brand was Baldwin’s right hand man. They were fantastic together. They have a scene that is so funny and so unexpected that you will be laughing so hard. Brand in his films is sometimes a bit too much but he gave a much underplayed performance that I really enjoyed him.

            With the typical dull plot with a happy go lucky ending the music is able to keep your attention. You know all the songs already (hopefully you do if you don’t you need some help). Before the singing even started I heard the beat to some of the songs and my feet were moving right along with it. It was awesome to hear “Shadows of the Night” by Pat Benatar near the end that is one of my favorite songs by her. There is music by Foreigner, Journey, Joan Jett, Poison, Bon Jovi, and a bunch more good bands and singers from the 80s.

            Rock of Ages is a simple movie that attracts audiences of all kinds. It is glittery and fun but it feels more like pop-fluff than hard rock, it is cute and fluffy trying to make out all the characters are so into rock n’ roll. The only characters that looked like they listened to rock and were rough around the edges were Stacee Jaxx (obviously), Dennis, and Lonny (Russell Brand). But besides this if you can get past the predictable story and Julianne Hough’s singing you will have a good time watching Rock of Ages.  

Death Defying Acts (2007)

Death Defying Acts is a movie I caught a part of on TV one day. It did not look bad especially because it involved Houdini and the guy is pretty interesting to learn about. I knew of course without having seen the whole thing that the movie was mostly fictitious but, hey, movies like these are based on some kind of truths. And how could I pass up an opportunity to see two of the hottest people in Hollywood in the lead roles Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta- Jones? I could not so I watched it and found that the film felt short and was a bit boring.

            Famous magician Harry Houdini (Pearce) is on a tour of Britain. For the past few years he has been trying to conduct a scientific experiment to see if the supernatural does really exist and is not fake. He sends out a newsreel letting everyone know that he will be holding auditions of sorts to see if anyone is the real deal. An entertainer at a local theater named Mary McGarvie (Zeta-Jones) has an act with her daughter Benji (Saoirse Ronan) where she claims she can make contact with the dead. What they really do is scope out people, Benji sometimes steals a little something off their person, and Mary goes to the library to check out the papers with details of the dead person. Mary and Benjo hear about Houdini’s challenge and they decide to go for it even though they know they are not the real deal.

            Mary pretends to be a maid in the hotel the magician is staying in to get into his room to find out some information about him. Benjo goes to the theater to his dressing but she is caught. Houdini talks to her and gives her tickets to the show. A few days later Mary “auditions” for Houdini and is assigned the challenge he has set. He mostly hires her because of the close resemblance to his mother with whom he is trying to contact since he was very close to her.

   

            The magician and the fake psychic get closer and closer and they lose sight of what they have really come together to do. Benji is the one who wants to stay on target with the whole thing and Houdini’s manager suspects they are phonies. Anyway, Houdini and Mary have an affair and then he leaves.

            Not really to brag about. There is only one of the magician’s tricks that are shown and it was the one where he unlocks himself from a water tank.

            Guy Pearce and Catherine Zeta- Jones were really got together I would love to see them in another film together. I think they looked absolutely fabulous in the 1920s style clothing especially Zeta- Jones she looked gorgeous in several scenes. 

            Death Defying Acts is an alright movie, I was not terribly impressed. In several reviews I have read the reviewers compare this movie to The Prestige and The Illusionist. I hate to do that because the movies are all so different and I think Death Defying Acts was more about the man and a love story than it was about the magician’s magic tricks while the other two were more about the magic. I think this where the film falls flat and is boring because it is more of a love story. Only sit through the movie if you like Guy Pearce and/or Catherine Zeta- Jones