Contraband

Directed by Baltasar Kormakur

2012

Viewed January 14, 2012

This is a pretty generic heist movie. Chris Farraday used to be a smuggler of all things illegal and has gotten out of that scene to focus on his wife and two young sons. His brother in law, Andy,  went on a drug run and ended up having to dump the drugs so as not to get caught by customs. Tim Briggs, who had sent Andy for the drugs wants $700,000 to replace the drugs, and he wants it quickly. Farraday sets up a run for some counterfeit money to make up for Andy's mistake. While he's gone Briggs makes good and sure to scare Farraday's family to make sure that he gets his money. This movie was pretty predictable, and as always, Mark Wahlberg (who plays Farraday) has the same expression on his face that he does in every other movie he's ever made. Briggs, played by Giovanni Ribisi is a generic unimaginitive thug. Ribisi needs to stop trying to play villians because he's not good at it. They had to give him facial hair and tattoos to make him look "scary". I did like Ben Foster as Farraday's best friend. I've always been a huge Ben Foster fan. I was entertained and Contraband was fun to watch and see how they pulled off their heist, so I think that I'll go with a C+

Sons Of Anarchy Season 1 and 2

" A true outlaw finds the balance between the passion in his heart and the reason in his mind. The outcome is the balance of might and right."

Viewed March 2011

I have to admit that I was very skeptical of this show and refused to watch it for a long time. I had heard that it was really good, but come on, a show about a motorcycle gang? Not for me. My siblings eventually became obssessed with it which was really weird, and my brother ended up putting it on my ipod over Christmas break (he always loads my pod full of movies and tv shows for me, so I'm kind of at his mercy). After I had watched everything else that was on my ipod I reluctantly started in on Sons. I wasn't sold after the first episode. In fact, I had a hard time even paying attention cause I bored and still overly skeptical. I texted my younger brother and asked if it was really worth it and he assured me it was. So I watched another episode. Then another. Then another until finally I was really hooked. This is not a show about a bunch of long haired, tattooed, Harley loving thugs who drive around on their motorcycles all day and cause trouble.... Except it sort of is... But it's even better. The Club is involved in many legal and illegal business ventures and the ATF is on to them. The first season deals mainly with the ATF trying to bring them down, and the second season mainly deals with another "business" man coming into town and trying to take over all the illegal activities in Charming. There are brawls and gun battles and plenty of motorcycle riding, but there's also some romance and some hard issues as well (I even got all choked up in one episode!). Sons of Anarchy has a butt load of really great under rated actors as well including Kim Coates, Ron Perlman and Tommy Flanagan (just to name a few). I now definitely love this show and the second season was even better than the first, so I hope that it continues to get better and better! Oh, and when did Katy Segal become super hot!? A

Machete

“We didn’t cross the border. The border crossed us”

Directed by Robert Rodriguez and Ethan Maniquis

2010

Date Viewed: Saturday February 12, 2011

Danny plays Machete, a Mexican in Texas who kills people with a Machete…. I don’t even really remember the plot to be honest… But in true Rodriguez style there is plenty of over the top gore and violence. There was too much boring talking and I lost interest, but the little fight scenes were hilariously over the top. C

The Town

Directed by Ben Affleck

2010

Viewed September 2010

I love LOVE Ben Affleck as a director. His directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, is one of my favorites. The Town is his second directorial effort and I definitely loved it as well. Ben Affleck as an actor gets better with age. I'm not usually a fan, but I did like him in this as a conflicted bank robber. Basically this group of guys robs a bank (as they have many times before) and one of the dudes takes a teller as a hostage in case they need leverage when the police show up. They let her go, but took her driver's license and threatened her life if she talked to the FBI. Ben Affleck's character goes to check on her and they end up falling in love (she doesn't know who he really is since everyone had been wearing masks). There are some awesome car chases and a huge shoot out as well. Jon Hamm from Mad Men plays the FBI agent who is after the robbers and his performance definitely made me want to check out his TV show. I also loved Jeremy Renner (as I always do) who plays a total slime bag. This movie reminded me of The Departed, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it was better than The Departed. A

The American

There was barely enough dialogue to add a quote up here....

The American

2010

Date Viewed: Saturday September 5, 2010

This movie opens with George Clooney and a lovely lady canoodling by a fireplace somewhere in Sweden. Then they venture out and walk on the frozen lake. Suddenly, they stop when they come across footprints. George quickly pushes the lady behind a large, conveniently placed rock and bullets start flying around them. George kills the shooter and sends the lady to go call the police. At this point I turned to Bobby and said “He’s gonna shoot her” and he did. This movie was probably the most predictable movie I’ve ever seen. Or maybe it seemed so predictable that I actually had someone with me to voice my predictions instead of just watching by myself ;) We figured out every “twist and turn” and even the “twist” ending. The other thing was that it was boring! It was in general a very slow paced movie, but nothing really happened. You never find out why people are chasing him, you never get any kind of backstory on him, all he does is build a gun and sleep with a prostitute and looks over his shoulder at every turn. Was he once a good man? How and why did he become so paranoid and broken down? (So paranoid in fact, that he finds a gun in the prostitute’s purse and gets so on edge around her that he almost shoots her.. I mean she’s a prostitute, and two scenes ago you were just reading in the paper that there’s a prostitute killer on the loose! Get a grip man!) So to sum up, this was a lame lame movie. Don’t waste your money. It gets a few points just for the fact that George Clooney is in it… D-