Guardians of the Galaxy

I can picture the day - 1971 - Marvel is flying high with their diverse properties.  But they're all based on Earth.  In the midst of a drug-induced hazed, someone has a bright idea.  Rather than bring a super hero to Earth, why not send a regular guy into space?  And Guardians of the Galaxy is born.*

The film really tries to maintain this campy vibe despite being reset in a modern age, and it delivers.  When you are establishing your base as a talking racoon and a tree, why not throw in a 1970s soundtrack and smooth dance moves?

Guardians of the Galaxy
2014, 122 minutes, directed by James Gunn

* I have no idea if this is how it actually happened.  It seems probable.

Red 2

I could say that the Red series is everything that's wrong with modern spy films.  It's more show than substance, more flair than grit, more punchline than punch.  Wrapped into that are aging actors - Bruce Willis primarily - whose abilities to withstand a punch, or a knife, or a gun, are simply unbelievable.

But then again, this movie gets right so many things that its contemporaries - I'm looking at you, Untouchables - get wrong.  It's not about the cameo, or joking around with old buddies.  It's about being of a certain age, one where your work is your art.  There are other lines, like the Raid series, to satisfy, the brutal realism of combat.  This is about watching Bruce Willis and some good actors have fun with their work, their art.

Red 2
2013, 116 minutes, directed by Dean Parisot

The Raid 2

Prisons are horrible places.  But that's where Rama must go to work his way into the crime family that killed his brother, expose them all, and bring them down.  If that's not enough - - what is?

I loved the audio track of the first Raid.  This time upgrade your screen.

The Raid 2
2014, directed by Gareth Evans

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I'd heard this was surprisingly good.  I see now that this must be placed in context with how awful it was expected to be.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
2012, 105 minutes, directed by Timur Bekmambetor

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

I really appreciate what they are trying to do with the Marvel universe.  It's expansive, it's dynamic, and sometimes you need to tear the old establishment down to build a better one.  That's the purpose of this film, not the most obvious "bridge" I've ever seen, but perhaps the bridge connecting the two largest film masses.  S.H.I.E.L.D. has a problem, and that problem is Red Skull infiltration.  It's cancerous, and it's metastasized, and if S.H.I.E.L.D. and humanity want to survive, it's time to cut it out.

It's a little incredulous that they don't just point out that the bad guys were fucking Nazis.  I think Steve and Nick and the rest of the team would get more sympathy for what they had to do if they'd just point that out.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier
2014, 136 minutes, directed by Anthony and Joe Russo

District 9

I'm impressed that a South Africa production was so eloquently able to disguise apartheid critique under a thick gory blanket of sci fi, the way it's meant to be done.  Plus Wikus Van De Merwe is such an awesome action hero, it's hard to not root for him as both a speciesist mid-level manager and a blood-thirsty killing machine.

For more commentary see my original review from 2009.

District 9
2009, 112 minutes, directed by Neill Blomkamp

Safe

I like Jason Statham movies.  Or, rather, I liked Jason Statham in a movie, when he wasn't in every one of them.  The enjoyment of his performance on screen was lessened when he was packaged into one of this generation's few action heroes.  (The generation gap between him and the rest of the Expendables cast always throws me.)  Still, films like Safe satisfy a need for mindless action.

Mei, a young math prodigy with a perfect memory, is brought to the U.S. to manage the numbers for a Chinese crime syndicate.  Meanwhile, Luke (Jason Statham) finds his wife murdered by the Russian mafia when he fails to throw a fight.  Rather than kill him, too, the Russians promise to kill anyone he approaches or talks to, leaving him a homeless outcast.  Just when he's had enough, Mei steps into his life.  The Russians tried to grab her, to get a code from her head, and now they, the Chinese, and the dirty cops Luke used to work with all want to get her back.  With nothing left to lose but her, he does everything he can to keep her safe.

Safe
2012, 94 minutes, directed by Boaz Yakin