Monday, August 17, 2015

"Vehicle 19" (2013)

Starring Paul Walker, Naima McLean and Gys de Villiers
Written and directed by Mukunda Michael Dewil
Rated PG-13 — Violence, language
Running Time: 85 Minutes
Trailer

Michael Woods (Paul Walker) has fled parole in the United States to reconnect with his ex-wife (Leyla Haidarian), who works at the U.S. Embassy in Johannesburg, South Africa. But he's having a spectacularly bad day: After delays at the airport and customs, the rental car company stuck him with the wrong car. But not just any car: this one has a woman tied up in the back, a cellphone in the glovebox and a silenced 9mm pistol hidden under the seat. The woman, Rachel (Naima MClean), claims she's a whistleblower who has uncovered evidence that the chief of police is heavily involved in the sex trafficking industry.

Now, hunted through a strange city, Mike has to get the evidence to a friendly judge, the only one Rachel trusts. Mike wants nothing more than to get out of this situation, but since he broke his parole, he's an easy target for a frame job...

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

"Mission: Impossible 2" (2000)

Starring Tom Cruise, Thandie Newton and Dougray Scott
Written by Robert Towne
Directed by John Woo
Rated PG-13 — Violence, language
Running Time: 123 Minutes
Trailer

While super secret agent Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) is on vacation, a situation arises requiring his — and only his — attention. With Hunt unavailable, IMF boss Swanbeck (Anthony Hopkins) sends another agent, Sean Ambrose (Dougray Scott) disguised as Hunt. His mission is to meet up with an old contact of Hunt's who has developed a deadly biological weapon called Chimera and its antigen, Bellerophon. But instead of protecting the contact and delivering Chimera to the IMF, Ambrose kills the contact and steals it for himself to sell to the highest bidder, only to discover that he's actually stolen the Bellerophon.

To catch him, Hunt recruits Nyah Hall (Thandie Newton), a professional thief and Ambrose's ex-girlfriend. Despite their own budding romance, Hunt sends Nyah undercover to discover Ambrose's plans for Chimera and its location in order to help him steal it back. But when Hunt discovers what Ambrose is up to, the mission gets much more dangerous for everyone involved.

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

"Run All Night" (2015)

Starring Liam Neeson, Joel Kinnaman and Ed Harris
Written by Brad Ingelsby
Directed by Jaume Collet-Serra
Rated R — Violence, strong language
Running Time: 114 Minutes
Trailer

Jimmy "The Gravedigger" Conlon (Liam Neeson) is a hitman struggling to forget all the horrible things he's done. Haunted by the faces of all the people he's killed, Jimmy has fallen into a pit of despair and alcoholism. His best friend since childhood, Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris) —the local gangster for whom Jimmy did all this killing — tries to help him out, but nothing can erase the past.

No one knows this better than Jimmy's son Michael (Joel Kinnaman) who hates Jimmy for that very past, and tries his hardest never to be like his absent murderer father. With two children and a third on the way, Michael spends his time away from being a limo driver by mentoring under-privileged children at a local gym. One night while waiting for two Albanian clients, Michael encounters one of his boxing students, Curtis (Aubrey Joseph), and the two of them witness Shawn's son Danny (Boyd Holbrook) murder Michael's clients. Michael escapes Danny, who calls his father to tell him what happened.

Against his father's orders, Danny goes to Michael's home and attempts to kill him but is himself killed by Jimmy. Shawn can't abide the murder of his son, no matter how in the wrong he was, no matter who did the killing, and vows to get revenge on Jimmy by killing Michael. He frames Michael for Danny's murder, and the murder of two police officers sent to arrest him. Now father and son must put aside years of resentment to prove Michael's innocence and make it through the night alive.

Thursday, August 6, 2015

"Hercules" (2014)

Starring Dwayne Johnson, Rufus Sewell and John Hurt
Written by Ryan J. Condal and Evan Spiliotopoulos
Directed by Brett Ratner
Rated PG-13 — Violence, language, brief nudity
Running Time: 98 Minutes
Trailer

The legendary Hercules (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson) is leader of a band of mercenaries. They make their way by frightening their enemies with embellished tales of Hercules' victories against incredible monsters. Along with Autolycus (Rufus Sewell), Tydeus (Aksel Hennie), Atalanta (Ingrid Berdal), Iolaus (Reece Ritchie) and Amphiaraus (Ian McShane), Hercules is hired by King Cotys (John Hurt) to help defend the land of Thrace from a vicious enemy — the army of Rhesus (Tobias Santelmann).

But while Hercules and his cohorts attempt to keep their deception about Hercules' exploits from Cotys and his men, especially the skeptical General Sitacles (Peter Mullan), so do they suspect that Cotys is also keeping something from them. And all the while, Hercules himself is still tormented by his greatest failure: to stop the murder of his wife and children, the event that banished him from Athens and led him to the lonely life of a wandering warrior.