Killers

Killers

Directed by: Robert Luketic

Cast: Ashton Kutcher as Spencer Aimes
Katherine Hiegl as Jen Kornfeldt Aimes
Tom Selleck as Mr. Kornfeldt
Katherine O'Hara as Mrs. Kornfeldt

Rated: PG-13

*The following may contain spoilers*

Overview:
Killers is a rather fitting title, as it has many descriptions: Assassins. Murderers for hire. All of these are the same thing; people that kill for money. And now, there's a *slightly* romantic comedy on the subject. And it's everything you would expect from a movie about assassins; we have explosions, guns, car chases and...a baby. Yep. A baby in a movie about assassins. Didnt see that coming, did ya? But, what did you expect from an Ashton Kutcher movie about his successful marriage to Katherine Hiegel, all the while he is, in fact, a spy. Of course, all of this was revealed in the commercials, resulting in very few unforeseeable (and very weak) plot turns left for the rest of the movie.

Positive Attributes:
The Aimes' care very deeply for each other. Spencer originally drops out of the spy (meaning "killing") game to be with Jen, forgetting to tell her about his previous career choice since it will obviously never become an issue in their marriage...yeah, right. Even still, despite this lack of foresight on Spencer's part, he does his best to protect Jen from their KILLERS (ha ha. get it?) and she eventually forgives him for causing her repeated near-death experiences throughout the film. Spencer is also excited to be a father and when Jen threatens to leave him, he fights to keep her around. And, whenever she doubts herself, Spencer drops everything to comfort her and build her up. Jen and her parents have a very close and somewhat awkward relationship, though it is clear that they would do anything necessary to protect her from harm, something that seems to be missing in Hollywood these days. *Spoiler* At the end of the film, Jen demands complete honesty from her parents and husband and all of them spill their secrets willingly.

Negative Aspects:
Violence. Lots of violence. *Spoiler* The entire neighborhood and just about all of the couples friends turn out to be sleeper agents, ordered to kill the two whenever they receive the command. As a result, Spencer has to use his slightly rusty assassin skills to "eliminate" just about every additional character in the film, revealing a decent amount of blood, a lot of bullets and guns and several car accidents. Granted, that's severely less than you'd receive from a typical movie about assassins, but in a romantic comedy, it's a bit much. In the area of expletives, both Jen and Spencer cuss repeatedly ("due to the high stress situation, of course", Hollywood says). Spencer uses s**t like a verb and Jen says d**n more often than any others. Gods name is taken in vain several times. Jen speaks of a Russian diplomat who "got squeezy" with her on a plane. On their first date, Jen asks Spencer to take her dress off, but only because she can't breathe in it. She immediately replaces it with a towel while Spencer looks away. When they first meet, Spencer is shirtless and accidentally "follows" Jen to the beach as she looks over her shoulder, discretely checking him out.

Summary:
I was not expecting much in the way of plot when walking into the theater, and sadly, I was not surprised. Unfortunately, what it lacks in story, it seems to make up for in bullets. It seems as though Killers attempts to create the ever-elusive "chick flick" that contains enough of a girl movie (happy marriage, hot guys and babies) to entertain the ladies, while combining it with enough action and guy things (Katherine Hiegl, explosions, bullets and nice*ish* cars) to entertain the men that accompany their girlfriends and wives to these things. We'll call this uncreatable movie a...well it's an uncreatable movie! And Killers falls far short of the standard to be anything close to that. The action and drama don't balance out enough, leaving you feeling adrenaline overload on some occasions, while just enduring extreme cheesiness during the rest. I think my friend Aaron summarizes this film perfectly by saying, "it's cute, in an everyone-dies kind of way." Killers won't be winning any awards, but it's a decent film to watch if you're extremely bored with nothing else to do...or if your girlfriend asks you too.

Personal Rating: 5 of 10
Plot: 4 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: 6 of 10

P.S. Be sure to check out my friend Aaron Scholz's (quoted above) awesome blog at www.write-kind-of-sword.blogspot.com!

The Karate Kid (2010)

The Karate Kid (2010)
Directed by: Harald Zwart
Release Date: June 11, 2010
Cast: Jaden Smith as Dre Parker (The Karate Kid)
Jackie Chan as Mr. Han (Karate Instructor a la Mr. Miagai)
Zhenwei Wang as Cheng (Dre's crush)


Rated: PG

*The following may contain spoilers*
Overview:
Ok. I'm just going to go ahead and say it: I was not excited for this movie at all. First of all, I didn't think you could recreate the original "Karate Kid". I was afraid that they would just recycle the original storyline, just set in China. And, no offense to Jackie Chan, but I could not see him as Mr. Miagi. Thankfully, I was happily mistaken. This movie was not at all a remake, but instead, an addition to the Karate Kid legacy (and a much better addition than those other three sequels, I might add).

Positive Attributes:
Let's start with the positive attributes (in my opinion) about the plot. First off, this movie sets itself apart from the original in two ways. First, the *karate* kid is 12, as opposed to Daniel, the original karate kid, who was 18. Second, only about a minute and a half of the entire film is set in America; the rest takes place in China. As a result, Dre is pretty much the only american we see for the next two and a half hours, and the dialogue flits back and forth between English and Chinese, giving it a brand new, foreign and unique feel, removing all traces of the original film from your mind. Also, the acting in this movie feels more real than any in the original. Perhaps it's the lack of teenage angst and terrible "Brooklyn accent" from Daniel that we endured in the first movie, or maybe it's because all the Kung Fu moves are performed by people that can already practice them, or the actings simply better. No matter the reason, audiences can actually sympathize with Dre and what he's going through and are kept entertained throughout the entirity of the two and a half hour film. Finally, I have to comment on Jackie Chan's character; the 2010 version of Mr. Miagi. In this version, his name is Mr. Han. Although he's still a maintence man, he develops a much deeper character throughout the film than the original, creating a deeper connection with the audience than the original did. And he pays homage to the original tutor in small ways; not only is he a beast at Kung Fu (I mean, he's Jackie Chan!), he trains Dre through seemingly simple and meaningless task. And finally, we see him waxing a car in one scene in the traditional "wax on" with the right hand and "wax off" with the left. In addition to homage to the original film, filmmakers included Dre's leg being intentionally broken by the opposing team, similar to the original film. Now, on to the ACTUAL positive elements.

As with the original film, karate (or Kung Fu, depending on who's talking in this movie) is promoted as a force used to keep the peace, not to make war. As such, Dre is taught by Mr. Han to fight honorably (kind of an oxy-moron, if you think about it), unlike the kids tormenting him are taught in their "real" dojo. Friendship is also greatly valued and viewed positively. Dre attempts to make friends with the boys tormenting him, even after they beat him up. Also, he only considers himself to be friends with the girl he likes, never anything more. Dre calls Mr. Han the "best friend [he] ever had" and the two share several touching moments of compassion throughout the film. Respect for adults is a key theme as well. Mr. Han teaches Dre to obey his mother the first time she asks anything of him and eventually, the "bad kids" bow in respect to Mr. Han's superior teaching.

Negative Attributes:
The violence in this movie is pretty high for a PG rating. Granted, there's not alot of blood and it makes for some pretty sweet action sequences (like when the little Chinese thugs vault things like ninjas!), but a few of the fight scenes were intense enough to make me cringe and squirm and may prove a little too much for the younger ones. Also, the dojo in which the little ninjas train carries and teaches the mantra: "no pain, no fear, no mercy", resulting in Dre's beatings going a bit too far a couple times. The tournament at the finale also gets a bit intense with some insanely awesome fighting sequences and then when the "real" (meaning "bad guy") instructor orders his kids to break Dre's leg, it gets brutal, with kids targeting the leg repeatedly and showing no mercy yet again. On the language front, Dre mentions getting his "a** kicked" several times, to which Mr. Han responds "no more a**". Dre's mother takes Gods name in vane once or twice. One other thing I didn't like was the fact that Dre and his crush, Cheng, share a kiss on their first "date" (keep in mind that they are twelve). Also, Dre and Mr. Han travel to a temple of karate on top of a mountain during which Mr. Han speaks of chi, a force that lives and controls everything (which Dre then compares to Star Wars), revealing a somewhat spiritual undertone to Kung Fu.

Summary:
I was really impressed with this movie. What more can I say? It was well made and exposed a new generation to the legacy that is the Karate Kid (hopefully they won't ruin said legacy by watching the other three movies). Jackie Chan lives up to his own legacy by recreating while staying true to the original character and Jaden Smith comes alive in his first starring role and creates his own legacy by removing the Brooklyn accent from the movie completely and proving that he's got his dads talent in the movies. In conclusion, this isn't the first Karate Kid, or even a good remake. It's a brand new franchise of it's own.



Personal Rating: 8 of 10
Plot: 8 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: 1 of 10
Spiritual Content: 2 of 10
Written by: Christopher Murphey (screenplay)

The A-Team

The A-Team
Directed by: Joe Carnahan
Cast: Liam Neeson as Colonel "Hannibal" Smith
Bradley Cooper as Lt. Templeton "Faceman" Peck
Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as B.A. Baracus
Sharlto Copely as Murdock
Jessica Biel as Charisa Sosa
Rated: PG-13
*The following may contain spoilers*
Overview:
Its 1983 and every pre-teen and teenage male is turning on their television set, anxiously awaiting the sound of a trumpet playing that pure, red-blooded, All-American theme music. Then, there it is: a huge, black, tricked out van comes barreling through the desert toward the screen. And the audience goes wild, excited and ready for the newest episode of The A-Team. Fast-forward to June 11, 2010. Opening night of the big-screen version of the A-Team tv show. Before the credits start to roll, we seen two guys try to shoot Hannibal, B.A. beats up a garage of full of thugs and Face is seen with a Latino woman, both in robes and it's mentioned that they've slept together, even though she's married...albeit to a bad guy that's currently trying to kill the two of them. Face even begins to drop the f-word (the first of two times in the film), but is cut-off midstream. This very quick and somewhat telling, opening scene provides enough of a foundation for parents of younger children, and teens as well, to be cautious of the rest of the film.

Positive Attributes:
The film does display many great messages about friendship, loyalty and obeying authority, all of which are great lessons that everyone should learn. However, these themes begin to get a little obvious throughout the movie and among the explosions, punches and bullets.

Negative Attributes:
Multiple references are made to "Face" (Bradley Cooper) being a player. Not only is it mention that he slept with a married woman, he mentions something "done in a bedroom" while listening to a CD and once tells a jail guard that she "left something on the bed" in his cell and she picks up a thin, red piece of fabric (its unclear what exactly it is, but judging by her smile, its implied that it's underwear). In the same jail cell scene, a couple magazines are briefly seen with pictures of women on the front. The language is a lot less than most PG-13 movies, but still more than I usually like. Multiple exclamations of s**t pepper the particularly on-edge, adrenaline-fueled scenes (such as when B.A. is hanging out of a helicopter). Jesus and God's name are both taken in vain several times, God's is paired with d**n 4 times. And finally, B.A., one of the main characters names stands for Bad-A**. The violence may also be a little too much for younger audiences, but less blood appears than in normal action flicks. The only appearance of blood I can recall is when one character gets shot in the arm, and bleeds a bit in view of the camera. We see the wound again later, being stitched up by a doctor.

Summary
I was incredibly excited for this movie, ever since I saw the first commercial. I mean, Liam Neeson and Bradley Cooper, two of my favorite actors, together in the same movie?! Yes, I had to see this. As a result, I was at one of the first showings opening weekend. And i must admit, I walked out of the theater in awe. Despite the negative aspects mentioned above, this movie had everything I look for in a film. The plot was pretty good, with several twists that were only visible about a minute before they were revealed. The actors each portrayed the characters beautifully and convincingly (my favorite was Murdock). And of course, it had all the crazy, unbelievable, yet still amazing stunts that one would expect after seeing the commercial. Also, it kept most of the good parts out of the commercial, keeping a few surprises in store for the audience. Honestly, the entire A-Team film can be described in three great words from Hannibal: "Overkill is underrated." So, for everyone looking for a good, fun action movie at the box office, I would recommend The A-Team. Yes, it has its faults, but its one of the cleanest and best action films I've seen in a long while.

Personal Rating: 8.5 out of 10
Plot: 9 of 10
Sexuality/Sensuality: 2 of 10