Quick Shots 21 Part I

Title: Men in Black 3.

Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Josh Brolin, Jemaine Clement, Emma Thompson, Alice Eve.

Brief Synopsis: Boris The Animal (Clement) has escaped from his moon prison and has found a way to travel back in time to kill Agent K (Jones), who in 1969 has put up the ArcNet - or a a forcefield around Earth that prohibits alien attacks. Agent J (Smith) travels back to 1969, a day before Boris kills Agent K, to stop both Boris's, protect Agent K and allow the ArcNet to get into place to prevent the destruction of Earth in the present.

Opinion: This was very enjoyable. Still not up to par with the original Men in Black, but I feel it may blow the second out of the water - which still wasn't horrible. The absolute best performance in this film comes from Josh Brolin, who plays a young Agent K - his performance of Tommy Lee Jones, including his voice, was spot on. And, with each one of these films you get a little more background into the two main characters, which is nice.

Grade:

Title: The Watch.

Starring: Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill, Richard Ayoade, Rosemarie DeWitt, R. Lee Ermey.

Brief Synopsis: Evan (Stiller) is a guy who loves his community. He is the manager of the local Costco and creates clubs to fit in. One night the security guard of his Costco is murdered, so Evan decides to create a neighborhood watch to protect the neighborhood and hopefully track down the murderer. Joining his group is Franklin (Hill), who has been denied in joining the police force, Bob (Vaughn), who really got into it to have guy's nights, and Jamarcus (Ayoade), who is hoping to meet a girl.

Opinion: This film was hurt, many times, because of the real-life trial of George Zimmerman. This was not a great movie, but it was decent enough. I laughed a handful of times - which for a film with Hill and Stiller, who both have good and bad moments for me, is a good thing.

Grade:

Title: Super 8.

Starring: Kyle Chandler, Ron Eldard, Joel Courtney, Riley Griffiths, Ryan Lee, Gabriel Basso, Elle Fanning, Noah Emmerich, Richard T. Jones. 

Brief Synopsis: Joe (Courtney) and his friend Charles (Griffiths) are making a zombie film and take their crew, including Cary (Lee), Martin (Basso) and Alice (Fanning). While out at a train station, a train comes roaring by - and a truck runs into it causing a huge accident and explosion. Soon, things start to go awry in this house and Joe's father, Jackson (Chandler), who is a sheriff in the town - is trying to figure out what is happening. Joe and his gang, though, continue to try and finish their movie and begin to uncover some things on their own.

Opinion: This was a film I wanted to see in the theater and never was able to find the time to get out and see it. And, I am mad at myself for waiting so long to watch it on DVD. This movie was outstanding - and the main reason for that was the performances of the children. Each kid, and the only one I had ever heard of was Fanning (though Lee looked very familiar), put in a great performance. Honestly, Fanning's  performance was outstanding and though he wasn't a main character Basso really reminded me of Martin Starr - heck his character's name was even Martin.

Grade:

Title: Contraband.

Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster, Caleb Landry Jones, Kate Beckinsale, Giovanni Ribisi, Lukas Haas.

Brief Synopsis: Chris Farraday (Wahlberg) and his friend Sebastian (Foster) are both former smuggler wo have gone straight. Farraday has married Kate (Beckinsale) and has two boys, while Sebastian has created a construction company. Kate's brother Andy (Jones), though, has gotten himself in trouble with Tim Briggs (Ribisi) and Farraday jumps back in one last time to keep his brother-in-law alive and get his family complete out of trouble.

Opinion: Not a horrible film. Pretty action packed and some pretty darn good actors. My issues, which is more Hollywood than with this film, is I figured out the ending and some of the twists that happened. There aren't many films nowadays that surprise me. But, for what this film was - it was a good ride..

Grade:

Title: Premium Rush.

Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Dania Ramirez, Michael Shannon, Jamie Chung, Wole Parks, Christopher Place.

Brief Synopsis: Wilee (Gordon-Levitt) and his girlfriend Vanessa (Ramirez) both work as bike messengers in NYC. Wilee is looking for some extra fairs, and gets one at the conclusion of his shift to pickup something from his former college and take it to a woman in Chinatown. But, a police officer, Bobby (Shannon) wants to take the package from Wilee for reasons that Wilee is unaware - but, as rules of the carrier service, once a package is in the bag it doesn't come out until it reaches its destination.

Opinion: The film jumps back and forth to tell its story. Both Gordon-Levitt and Shannon continue to stand out, and here is no different. The bike riding is the action in the film as Gordon-Levitt tries to get away from both Shannon's character in his car - and a police officer on bike. Which, is actually pretty fun to watch. Probably the weakest film of the year of JGL, but I still really enjoyed it.

Grade: