Category Archives: Action

The Fast and the Furious series review

The sixth entry in this wildly successful action franchise came out recently, a franchise I've pretty much ignored. Why? Though I met Vin Diesel one time and he was friendly enough, I was never a huge fan of the guy onscreen. And I never much liked his pal, Paul Walker. The real appeal of these…Read More

Star Trek Into Darkness review

Directed by JJ Abrams, Written by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof, based on the Gene Roddenberry TV series | Prime Video It's been reported that JJ Abrams didn't grow up having been a big fan of Star Trek. I've had trouble finding the direct quote online, but the impression I got from having…Read More

Olympus Has Fallen review

Directed by Antoine FuquaWritten by Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin BenediktIt's been awhile since I've seen such an egregiously lunkheaded movie as Olympus Has Fallen. Happy to let its talented cast deliver recycled, leaden dialogue and go through the motions of a recycled, leaden plot, its real failing goes beyond that, because a movie can be…Read More

Jack Reacher review

Directed and written by Christopher McQuarrie, adapting the Lee Child book, One Shot.A sad coincidence, I suppose, that I'm writing about Jack Reacher today, and earlier I heard of the death of Michael Winner, a British director who was responsible for a number of thrillers and action movies of the 1970s, movies Jack Reacher is directly…Read More

The Last Stand review

Directed by Kim Jee-WoonWritten by Andrew Knauer, Jeffrey Nachmanoff and George NolfiOnce upon a time, action movies were different. In the 1980s, the guns were big, the explosions were big, the heroes were big, but CGI and superheroes weren't yet king. The star was still the biggest part of the deal: Sylvester Stallone, Kurt Russell,…Read More

Django Unchained review

Written and directed by Quentin TarantinoI suppose it was inevitable that Tarantino would get grief about his movie Django Unchained, a western that takes place in the antebellum south. It's a grand adventure that borrows a lot from Sergio Leone, but with no hesitation in the script to use what we all euphemistically call "the…Read More

Skyfall review

Directed by Sam Mendes Written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan based on characters by Ian Fleming James Bond returns for the 23rd time (in an EON Productions film), the third time for Daniel Craig. Since he took the mantle of the most famous secret agent in the world (something of an obstacle…Read More

James Bond 007: The Pierce Brosnan Era

For years, even before he was Bond, Pierce Brosnan seemed a natural choice to have a licence to kill. The story is that he visited the set of For Your Eyes Only to see his wife Cassandra Harris, who was playing the Countess who is romanced by Roger Moore's James Bond. Producer "Cubby" Broccoli immediately…Read More