Tagged with action films …

Go, See, Talk! Review: The Bourne Legacy, 2012, dir. Tony Gilroy

Go, See, Talk! Review: The Bourne Legacy, 2012, dir. Tony Gilroy

The big question The Bourne Legacy must answer: does it successfully restart the franchise and pick up where Matt Damon and Paul Greengrass left off? In a word, no. Tony Gilroy, assuming the role of director for the first time in the series, bungles story, character, and action here in big, unforgivable ways while poor Jeremy Renner struggles gamely against the film’s weaknesses. Continue reading →

Review: The Avengers, 2012, dir. Joss Whedon

Review: The Avengers, 2012, dir. Joss Whedon

The Avengers didn’t have to do much to impress me. Being as honest as possible, Joss Whedon’s attempt at making a respectable entrance into the 2012 summer season with the capstone picture of Marvel Studios’ long-gestating superhero bonanza just needed to be tolerable to get a pass from me. Put bluntly, C-level material alone would … Continue reading →

Go, See, Talk! Review: The Grey, 2012, dir. Joe Carnahan

Go, See, Talk! Review: The Grey, 2012, dir. Joe Carnahan

Today marks the release of survival-action film/Liam Neeson vehicle The Grey, the latest film from director Joe Carnahan (Narc, The-A Team).  I unequivocally loved it; it’s an immensely effective pulse-pounding thriller on the surface, but it’s characterized much more strongly by its more metaphysical and emotional traits, something that took me off-guard in the best … Continue reading →

Review: Haywire, 2012, dir. Steven Soderbergh

Review: Haywire, 2012, dir. Steven Soderbergh

Haywire, in its fashion, possesses many of the best qualities of its protagonist; like Mallory Kane, it’s lean, mean, efficient, and wholly focused on attaining its goals and realizing its purpose. It also teeters, occasionally, on the verge of emotional vulnerability. Neither Kane (MMA fighter Gina Carano) nor director Steven Soderbergh are especially willing to … Continue reading →

Review: Ironclad, 2011, dir. Jonathan English

Review: Ironclad, 2011, dir. Jonathan English

About the only thing Jonathan English’s Ironclad has going for it blood; he can rest easy knowing that his film absolutely lives up to its tagline, providing copious amounts of human viscera for audience entertainment at the cost of telling a good story. Ironclad is simply bad. The only comfort I can accord the film is … Continue reading →

Review: Hanna, 2011, dir. Joe Wright

Review: Hanna, 2011, dir. Joe Wright

Hanna makes a sound argument that action movies need not be artless, though maybe when the person at the helm is Joe Wright the final outcome can only inevitably attain a level of artfulness worth observing. Wright is responsible for 2007’s Atonement, a strikingly beautiful film that remains mostly empty despite its impressive craftsmanship; where … Continue reading →

Review: Limitless 2011, dir. Neil Burger

Review: Limitless 2011, dir. Neil Burger

Limitless might have added up to something excellent instead of well-made fluff entertainment if Neil Burger cared to consider the ramifications of his film’s basic conceit and chose to punish his hero more, rather than reward him. Maybe that’s not being fair to Burger, because Limitless isn’t a bad film at all. It’s just not … Continue reading →