Since Music Monday has been getting pretty repetitive, with lots of Classical music and not much else, I’ve decided to introduce a new feature: Movie Monday. On Movie Monday I’ll help you tackle movie night with brief reviews of movies, TV shows and other digital videos you may have missed that are worth the rental or purchase.
This week, it’s all about the action movies.
Escape Plan (R)
One of the world’s foremost authorities on structural security agrees to take on one last job: breaking out of an ultra-secret, high-tech facility called “The Tomb.”
Sylvester Stallone stars as Ray Breslin, the world’s top expert in structural security. When he’s framed for a crime he didn’t commit, his skills are put to the ultimate test in an attempt to break out of one of his own prisons. Co-stars some pretty big names: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Sam Neill, Vincent D’Onofrio and 50 Cent.
The acting is strong across the board and the script is very good. If you enjoy the types of movies where the hero must solve puzzles or come up with a daring plan, like Ocean’s 11 or Aeon Flux, you’ll probably like this one a lot. Plus, it’s a pleasure to see these two top action stars playing against one another at last.
The Adjustment Bureau (PG-13)
An action thriller about a man (Matt Damon) who decides to fight the powerful Adjustment Bureau, risking his political future to be with the only woman he’s ever loved (Emily Blunt).
This one is kind of like Dark City meets The Island. A shadowy, secret cabal exerts absolute control over major world events to ensure their own, profitable ends. They have the power to change not only people’s lives, but their memories as well, to more easily bend everyone and everything to their own will without anyone even knowing it’s happening.
When Senate hopeful David Norris (Damon) accidentally gets a glimpse behind the curtain of The Adjustment Bureau’s existence, activities and plans for him, he fights to regain control over his own destiny and desire to be with a ballet dancer (Blunt) he’s begun to fall for.
Interesting, twisty script and an intriguing premise, with two top-notch actors in the lead roles.
Source Code (PG-13)
Jake Gyllenhaal stars in the mind-bending action thriller about an experimental government program used to try and stop a deadly terrorist attack in downtown Chicago.
Speaking of twisty…this one’s got a humdinger of a twist ending, and I won’t spoil it for you.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Colter Stevens, a soldier who wakes to find himself in unfamiliar surroundings, guided only by remote voices and video images. He’s told he’s part of an experimental government project to stop terrorist attacks through virtual reality, and that he’ll be sent into a virtual reality scenario in which he must find a bomb that’s been planted on a commuter train and discover who planted it before it explodes. He can make multiple attempts but time is limited, and with each foray into the scenario he becomes more attached to a woman he meets on the train.
He begins to suspect the scenario isn’t virtual at all, that the woman and everyone else on the train are real people, and that his remote contacts aren’t telling him everything.
Co-stars the excellent Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga and Jeffrey Wright.