Hummingbird (2013)

Genre : Action/Drama
Country : UK

Cast :
Jason Statham : Joey
Benedict Wong : Mr. Choy
Vicky McClure : Dawn
Agata Buzek : Christina

Director :
Steven Knight

Alternative title : Redemption

Summary
Homeless and on the run from a military court martial, a damaged ex-special forces soldier navigating London's criminal underworld seizes an opportunity to assume another man's identity -- transforming into an avenging angel in the process.

My opinion
Statham goes up in my eyes after seeing this movie. He plays the role of a former Special Force soldier who's suffering from PTS and hides, after committing a war crime (as I could deduce), in anonymous London. He plays it perfectly and convincingly. It surely isn't an action movie but rather a morbid drama about how someone, with a self-destructive attitude, gets his act together, goes of to search for his companion and ultimately takes revenge. Furthermore he suddenly helps a compassionate nun who has helped him selflessly in all those years.

Statham is seen as part of the new generation of hard-hitting action heroes that are a repayment of the old-school veterans. And he makes a difference by playing in this film. Imagine a Van Damme, Stallone, or even worse a Schwarzenegger in this role. That would be a ridiculous and unbelievable performance. But Statham fits in this. The scarce action scenes are sometimes raw and realistic, but are not authoritative and are not central as in his other films.

I was fascinated from the start till the end. The performance of Agata Buzek, the Polish nun, was played overwhelmingly. And she is far from ugly if you look at the pictures on IMDB. She has a natural look and contrasts with that beauty ideal from Holywood.

The subtle humor, the flashy action as well as the dramatic portions of the film provide a beautiful and coherent whole. And that was greatly appreciated by me.

The moment Joey actually confesses his story to the nun, was for me the most important moment in the film. Then he returns to his previous existence as a nobody in the gutter so that he's no longer lethal to others. Strong! Prime Choice! Intriguing! Compelling!

My rating 8/10
Links : IMDB

Oblivion (2013)

Genre : SF
Country : USA

Cast :
Tom Cruise : Jack
Olga Kurylenko : Julia
Morgan Freeman : Beech

Director :
Joseph Kosinski

Summary
One of the few remaining drone repairmen assigned to Earth, its surface devastated after decades of war with the alien Scavs, discovers a crashed spacecraft with contents that bring into question everything he believed about the war, and may even put the fate of mankind in his hands.

My opinion

This was once again a visually stunning movie. At times I was watching it breathlessly and greatly enjoyed the apocalyptic images of the desolate landscapes and that pure piece of nature among all the chaos.

Sure, you will recognize things from other films or books. But you can say about most movies that it's a faint decoction of yet another movie. Granted ! If on a yearly base there would come out a number of solid SF movies like Space Odyssey 2001, Aliens, Star Wars, The Fly, Mad Max, Prometheus ... then I would understand. But they are (as in the horror genre) terribly sparse. They could have made a dead simple put-your-brains-into-neutral movie. Well, this wasn't such a film. Or they could have made it shorter and stuffed it with a lot of fast eye-catching action. But then that would have been probably a bit to much. And so it'll never be okay for anybody.

I found the portrayed view of an apocalyptic world very strong. The high-tech environment, the interiors, the buildings, vehicles and futuristic information technology looked brilliantly. And indeed, it really had an Apple feeling in all the designs. The control console they used, looked like a mega-XXL version of the iPad.

The story, the final state of affairs, the twists, the explanation of how it came to this situation, unfold at a slow (sometimes too slow) way, but that's what I liked about this movie. The slow manner of telling the complete story instead of rattling off all facts in a speedy pace.

I'm not a huge fan of Tom Cruise, but to be honest, he didn't annoy me that much for once. He did what he had to do, was enjoying himself once more in a "Mission Impossible" kind of way and was sometimes very convincing. Andrea Riseborough did much better than in "Welcome to the Punch" and also acted as a cloned version.
Freeman had a limited role, but was again the central character when the first surprise appeared.

I have to admit , the ending felt like "Independence Day" and it's unbelievable that such a high-tech and sophisticated civilization couldn't have intercepted this.
For the rest ... as SF fan they can dish up some more movies like this annually.

My rating 8/10
Links : IMDB

The Courier (2012)

Genre : Action
Country : USA

Cast :
Jeffrey Dean Morgan : The courier
Til Schweiger : Lispy
Mickey Rourke : Maxwell

Director :
Hany Abu-Assad

Summary
A specialist carrier is hired to deliver a mysterious case to the underworld's most dangerous hitman.

My opinion

The courier delivered an empty box.

The acting performance of Morgan was still enjoyable, but the story on its own is so far fetched and left more question marks at the end than any other movie.
The beginning was promising, the action was at times alright. The torture scene however, I found so ridiculous ... First a few fingers squeezed with a garlic press , then just like that they go to the kitchen to cook something to eat, not realizing that the guy with "garlic press squeezed fingers" could (yep you hear it) liberate himself  and then quite simply walk into the kitchen and shoot the two cooking lovebirds. It's as simple as that ..... Duhuh!

The Chinese girlfriend had no role of any significance. Also something absurd : when she hears that the person who actually raised her, passed away, it seems that the best remedy at that point is to start fooling around with the person she just met. Weird!

And I suppose it's just me, but I didn't quite understand the end (I had to rewind it briefly) immediately and they didn't need to put the name "Mickey Rourke" on the movie poster. Mostly you only saw his back (I suppose it was his), and then he acts like a bad looking Elvis for 3 minutes. Besides, he really got ugly since "9 1/2 weeks". Looks like his face is fully injected with botox.
Just another crap movie

My rating 2/10
Links : IMDB

One in the Chamber (2012)

Genre : Action
Country : USA

Cast :
Dolph Lundgren : Aleksey Andreev
Cuba Gooding Jr. : Ray Carver
Billy Murray : Leo Crosby

Director :
William Kaufman

Alternative title : Last Bullet

Summary
In search of money and freedom from the American justice system, criminals from the United States moved to Eastern Europe, where the laws were replaced by the crime after the collapse of the Communist system. Many of them chose Prague as their hideout, where crime lords were willing to pay a suitable sum of money to assassins in order to eliminate their rivals. One such assassin, Ray Carver, works for two rival gangs as their main killer. When Ray attempts to murder a Chechen drug lord, he is being pursued by the mobsters. Meanwhile, Suverov mafia hires Alexey 'The Wolf' Andreev, an assassin from Russia who is rumored to be not existent. This is when the real gang war starts.

My opinion
Hopefully they didn't pay the screenwriter too much, because he wrote this story with his hands tied behind his back in a long night session. What a simplistic insignificant story.

Short summary:
Mafia Boss 1 employs hitman 1 (Cuba) to eliminate Mafia boss 2
Hitman 1 misses the underboss of Mafia boss 2
Underboss employs hitman 1 to eliminate Mafia boss 1 (plus entourage)
Mafia boss 1 employs hitman 2 (Dolf) to eliminate the underboss (plus entourage)
The boss of hitman 1 betrays hitman 1
Confrontation between hitman 1 and hitman 2
Hitman 1 saves hitman 2 his life
Confrontation hitman 1 (+ his boss) with Mafia boss 1
Hitman 2 assassins Mafia boss 1 (Yep I didn't really see that one coming) and saves hitman 1
Hitman 1 & 2 become best buddies

And there you have it. I could have made that up easily in one night. Mix that with an idyllic story of a handsome chick who lives in Prague, who was the daughter of someone who was eliminated by Cuba and the picture is complete.

Nevertheless it started really well. The opening credits looked almost like "Se7en". The scene in which Cuba uses a huge sniper rifle and the way it's filmed, is fantastic. And then it slumps down and transforms into a common "Terence Hill & Bud Spencer" story, but with guns and machine guns instead of fists.

My rating 3/10
Links : IMDB

The Package (2013)

Genre : Action
Country : USA

Cast :
Steve Austin : Tommy Wick
Dolph Lundgren : The German
Darren Shahlavi : Devon

Director :
Jesse V. Johnson

Summary
All Tommy Wick has to do is deliver a "Package" to a rival crime lord, nicknamed 'The German'. It seems like a routine job, until another gang tries to hijack the precious cargo and Tommy has to fight every inch of the way to deliver it safely. The problem is, the "Package" isn't what Tommy was led to believe, and now he's in even deeper than he ever thought possible...

My opinion
A rather moderate B-movie. They made action movies like this in the 80' with the dozen. I think nowadays it's a new hype to gather all the old action heroes who are thinking about their retirement plan allready in a movie (Other examples are Expendables and The Last stand). Dolf Lundgren still speaks as slow as a snail and Steve Austin still looks like a walking wardrobe, Louis XIV style or so.

The action was sometimes very fake and the story with the blood type was far-fetched and unbelievable. Like Dolf  said: "The chance of finding a match is almost non-existent ..." but accidentally Steve is in the neighborhood. And they know each other from the past ... what a coincidence.

An unfortunate spectacle and probably the last feats of arms in cinematic terms of both gentlemen!

PS. I've always wanted to know how the mechanism of a bowling alley worked in reality. At least something I've learned of this movie !

My rating 3/10
Links : IMDB

Would You Rather (2012)

Genre : Horror/Thriller
Country : USA

Cast :
Brittany Snow : Iris
Jeffrey Combs : Shepard Lambrick
Jonny Coyne : Bevans

Director :
David Guy Levi

Summary
Desperate to help her ailing brother, a young woman unknowingly agrees to compete in a deadly game of "Would You Rather," hosted by a sadistic aristocrat.

My opinion
Uh ... if there was such a thing as a D category for movies, then this one deserved it. This was a storyline where boredom hits fast, with incredible events and a predictable ending that sucks.

The negative things first.

First, I think that the background of the eight contenders could be explained somewhat better. Ultimately, we only know that there is an ex-alcoholic , a gambler, a crippled woman, a goth whose child drowned by her ex-husband (I assume), a veteran and the leading actress Iris is someone with a seriously ill brother. That the latter plays along to save her brother's life, we know. It's a missed opportunity to explain a bit gradually about the others their motivations to participate.

Second, the circumstances in which the victims die sometimes, is a bit exaggerated. A stitch in your leg with an ice pick, won't let you die in a few minutes. Besides Iris also got one in her side (it just missed her lungs) and it has no effect. What a miracle. A few minutes later she's already running around as if nothing happened. A few strokes of a stick can be painful, but not life-threatening. No excessive blood loss. And wouldn't a soldier be tough enough to endure that ?A firecracker explodes with a few missing fingers as a result ... duh. A heart attack could be possible anyway, but still. Add to that, those who are killed (3) on the spot and there isn't much room left for exciting games.

Third: Why would the doctor (clearly a winner of the previous years) go there on his own. He should have known this was doomed to fail !!!!

Fourth, what an immense bad color choice was this movie. This looked just like a 80's Technicolor film.

Positive part was the acting of Combs as the sadistic Lambrick (diabolical smiles) and Coyne as the butler ergo bouncer / cleanup helper. The son of Lambrick can be nominated for an Oscar as "Best useless Supporting Actor" or "Worst acting performance." He's probably a friend of the son of the director.

And the end was so predictable. I was just thinking, "It would really suck for Iris when her brother Bob dies in the operation." And when it ends ... yes ... pitty!

They had everything : the idea of organizing a game between life and death, the choices and dilemmas, the candidates and their fucked up past, the sadistic element .... But apparently there wasn't the potential, the skills or the money to make it work.

My rating 2/10
Links : IMDB

Welcome to the Punch (2013)

Genre : Action/Crime
Country : UK/USA

Cast :
James McAvoy : Max Lewinsky
Mark Strong : Jacob Sternwood
Andrea Riseborough : Sarah Hawks

Director :
Eran Creevy

Summary
Former criminal Jacob Sternwood is forced to return to London from his Icelandic hideaway when his son is involved in a heist gone wrong. This gives detective Max Lewinsky one last chance to catch the man he has always been after. As they face off, they start to uncover a deeper conspiracy they both need to solve in order to survive.

My opinion
A persistent policeman.  
A top criminal.
Again slipped through the net.
Corruption at the police department and on a political level.
A political game for a top job.
The policeman and the criminal go hand in hand against corruption.
Good cop lets the top criminal escape.

That's it in a nutshell. Again a police thriller with the standard routine and nothing earth-shattering. The opening scene was quite interesting in terms of visualization. But it felt as if it was going to be something futuristic with those big glassy buildings and deserted streets.

Strong was very impressive in his role as the fierce intellectual top criminal. He almost has a facial expression like Statham. I also liked the interaction and dialogues between Max and Sarah : refreshing and humorous.

Daniel Mays also knows how to pick his parts because just like in "The Bank Job" (I've recently watched that one too) he kicks the bucket here too.  But in general it was only a weak movie and a thin story.
And one thing that annoys me the most is the amount of ammunition fired and the amount of misses.

My rating 2/10
Links : IMDB