Category Archives: Action/Thriller

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Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Leave it, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Kong: Skull Island (2017) Movie Review

March 9, 2017 Alex Brannan

Big Ape. Island. 1970s Vietnam backdrop. Movie. Synopsis over.

Kong: Skull Island is a Vietnam era period piece, something that acts as an important backdrop in the film. The stereotypes of U.S. in 1970s wartime dictate exposition and characterization.

The setup of Kong is messy in its expediency. A constant underscore of period relevant soundtrack keep conversations short and lacking in anything more than political platitudes.

Characters, as a result of this expediency and poor scripting, are Continue reading Kong: Skull Island (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

The Fast and the Furious (2001) Movie Review

March 6, 2017 Alex Brannan

As a precursor to the April 14 release of The Fate of the Furious, the eighth film in the Fast & Furious franchise, CineFiles is taking a look back at the 16 years of Fast films, starting here with 2001’s The Fast and the Furious.

What can be said about a film centering around underground drag racing, in which characters risk their lives for the respect of the win? Hopefully a lot given that film spawned a billion dollar franchise.

The Fast and the Furious, as a franchise, has developed into an enigmatic phenomenon of action schlock. But in 2001, The Fast and the Furious the film was merely a Continue reading The Fast and the Furious (2001) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Long Reviews (>400 Words), Love It

Logan (2017) Movie Review

March 2, 2017 Alex Brannan

The first thing one will notice about Logan, after a prologue/advert that you will not see coming, is that this is not Bryan Singer’s X-Men. Logan is the ninth film in the X-Men franchise and the third standalone Wolverine film. And it is a grizzled, grisly action tragedy. Not what one would expect from this comic book franchise.

An opening action sequence promises brutality not seen in comic book cinema to date, and it Continue reading Logan (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

A Cure for Wellness (2017) Movie Review

February 19, 2017 Alex Brannan

The first note I wrote down about A Cure for Wellness, which I wrote after the film’s opening scene, was as follows:

“Is A Cure For Wellness a masterfully shot slog?”

This notion came out of how the trailer clips and first scene of the film is shot and that I knew how long the film was going to be (this was, I should mention, my second film of the day). So my assumption going in was that this film was going to be a struggle between patience and style.

Is the film a well-shot slog? Well…yeah.

Rising white collar man (Dane DeHaan), referred to throughout the film only by his surname of Lockhart, takes hold of that next rung of the corporate ladder, and as a result is thrown into a legally questionable Continue reading A Cure for Wellness (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Leave it, Quickie Reviews (<400 Words), Sci-Fi/Fantasy

The Great Wall (2017) Movie Review

February 19, 2017 Alex Brannan

A pack of mercenaries on horseback take refuge in a cave and are attacked by a mysterious creature. Taking the creature’s severed claw, the two survivors of the attack (Matt Damon and Pedro Pascal) travel to a nearby kingdom on the Great Wall, where they are captured and pulled into a war.

In terms of effects work, the inaugural action set piece that establishes the film’s war of monster versus man is Continue reading The Great Wall (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Love It

John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) Movie Review

February 9, 2017 Alex Brannan

John Wick (Keanu Reeves), essentially the omnipotent god of this film universe whose nickname is appropriately “The Boogeyman,” just wants his car back. That’s all. Is it really so hard to give John Wick his car back? He’s really been through a lot. Cut him some slack.

Once he gets his car back, a movie happens.

John Wick 2 might be one of the Continue reading John Wick: Chapter 2 (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Horror, Love It

Get Out (2017) Movie Review

February 7, 2017 Alex Brannan

The opening to Get Out, the new thriller from Key & Peele‘s Jordan Peele, plays out in a single, meandering take that is gorgeously composed. The single shot depicts a man (Lakeith Stanfield) being plucked off of a suburban street in the middle of the night.

This cold open pivots to an idyllic, happy young couple, Chris and Rose (Daniel Kaluuya and Allison Williams), packing for a weekend at Rose’s parents’ house. This retreat to the woods, however, promises to be far more Continue reading Get Out (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Drama, Love It

The Handmaiden (2016) Movie Review

January 29, 2017 Alex Brannan

Director Chan-wook Park is not afraid to push buttons. He’s not afraid to be different. Not afraid to indulge.

The Handmaiden may be Chan-wook Park’s most button-pushing, different, indulgent film to date.

In 1930s Korea, a woman named Sook-hee (Tae-ri Kim) is hired to be the handmaiden of a wealthy Japanese heiress Lady Hideko (Min-hee Kim). But nothing is what meets the eye. Nothing. Sook-hee is Continue reading The Handmaiden (2016) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Horror, Like It, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Split (2017) Movie Review

January 20, 2017 Alex Brannan

The cold open to M. Night Shyamalan’s new venture, Split, features an intriguing mix of directorial choices. There is a Hitchcockian motivated mobile POV, one that starts as an innocent track. There are motivated pans and tilts that follow our protagonist Casey’s (Anya Taylor-Joy) increasingly cautious gazes. There is a sense of impending dread with each edit.

This opening kidnapping was shown in almost its entirety in Split‘s trailer, which presents the premise of a man with multiple personalities (James McAvoy) who steals away three teenage girls (Haley Lu Richardson, Jessica Sula, and Taylor-Joy). Ignore the ridiculous notion that Continue reading Split (2017) Movie Review →

Action/Thriller, All Movie Reviews, Long Reviews (>400 Words)

Never Say Never Again (1983) Movie Review

January 9, 2017 Alex Brannan

A little over a year ago, I went on a journey through the entirety of the James Bond franchise, reviewing each film in my James Bond Retrospective.

The one film I neglected to review was the unofficial, non-Eon Productions James Bond film from 1983: Never Say Never Again.

There are a few reasons why I never reviewed this film. First off, I was recruited through my reviews to edit and contribute to a James Bond website via Fansided. With this and reviewing over 20 Bond films in the course of two months, I succumbed to Continue reading Never Say Never Again (1983) Movie Review →

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