vinyarb

This spy movie probably has the worst villain ever, but that was never the point, was it?

This Means War (original working title of Spy vs Spy) pits the almost limitless resources two spies possess in order to outdo each other and win a girl’s heart. To be more specific. Reese Witherspoon’s heart. Yeah, spies have weird taste. Or they really don’t have the time to get out much.

Chris Pine and Tom Hardy play the two CIA agents, who happen to fall for the same girl unknowingly. As they plant surveillance devices and use other methods to keep tabs on each other and play up to Witherspoon’s likes, this “mission” threatens to unhinge their solid friendship.

Even though we guys often like to say “bros before hoes”, we know just how true that really is, or isn’t.

So there, an average action comedy good enough to while away an idle saturday afternoon.

Oh, and in there somewhere you’ll also find the barest plot about an international criminal planning revenge against the two of them for killing his brother in an earlier mission gone wrong.

Rating: 5/10

By the way, Have you met Reese without a spoon? LOL

Let’s face it, every year, we’ll have a handful of really great movies, some awful movies, and the rest just sort of falls nicely in the middle of not bad, but not great ones. Safe House ranks as one of those mid-tier films you’ll enjoy while in the cinema, but won’t remember much of after stepping out.

The only things elevating this from average to slightly above average are the 2 leads, Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds.

if i'm going to play the same role every movie, i'll at least change my hair

Reynolds stars as rookie agent Matt Weston, a “housekeeper” in charge of maintaining a safehouse in Cape Town. He’d been leading a rather uneventful year, up until the moment Tobin Frost (Denzel Washington) shows up. Frost, an ex CIA agent turned rogue, was suspected to possess, and trying to profit from, a list of illegal activities of several high ranking officials across different agencies.

So naturally, the bad bigwigs at the top (no prizes for guessing who) send in the foot soldiers to get hold of Frost before the info gets out in the open. So its up to the unlikely pair of rookie upright agent and weathered not evil but not that good ex agent to keep themselves alive.

Overused and predictable plot, but decent action and acting. So there. Not bad, not great.

Rating: 6/10

Among the many tentpole films coming out in 2012, this little film, made on a shoestring budget of US15 million, is punching way above its weight, and in my opinion, delivering quite the fight.

Chronicle tells the tale of 3 teenagers, whose bond is strengthened when they develop powers of telekinesis after literally exploring a hole in the ground.

The 3 teenagers are Andrew, the primary cameraman, who’s abused by his alcoholic father at home, and bullied by his peers at school; his more socially adjusted cousin Matt; and Steve, the athletic all-round nice guy running for school President.

just 3 dudes.. exploring a hole. *wink*

As they explore their new found powers, they try out schoolboy pranks like levitating bears to scare little girls, and move cars from the parking lot to a different space. But as their powers develop, and they find themselves handling much trickier maneuvers with ease, who’s to say its right or wrong to teach a school bully or a tail-gater a thing or two about messing with the wrong people?

As the situations escalate and Andrew becomes more and more unhinged, its up to his friends to try and undo his damage.

What’s interesting about the film, is that it explores the very different outcomes the same power results in 3 people with a very different upbringing. It almost seems as if it were both the origin story of a hero and a villain.

I AM GOOD LOOKING! Anyone disagrees?

The action is mostly captured with Andrew’s camera, but as the action steps up, we also see the action from other camera vantage points such as security cams, police cams and even news crew footage.

While the entire film is based on “found footage”, for those prone to headaches due to the shaky cam nature of such films (think Cloverfield), rest assured that the shakiness is kept to a minimum due to Andrew’s advanced filming “technique”.

With this film, Director Josh Trank has cracked the found footage genre wide open, and provided other filmmaker/writers to work the found footage style onto genres other than horror.

Rating: 9/10 

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A bird, a plane, 3 flying men!

As part of the viral campaign to raise awareness of the film, the marketing team took to the skies, creating 3 remote controlled planes shaped like men, and flew them over NYC and Liberty Island.

Awesome, cool stuff!

If there is one movie title that is as far away as the movie plot goes, Mission Impossible is it. Over the course of 4 missions, it has always been possible, possible, possible and possible.

Improbable maybe, but by the end of 120 minutes or so, always possible.

Unless the title really implies the efforts of the villains in the 4 installments. Aah, now we’re going somewhere. Let’s see:

Mission Impossible 1: Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to steal the NOC list, frame AND kill your IMF team members, and then sell the NOC list to Max. Yeah, impossible.

Mission Impossible 2: Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to create a virus, release the virus out in the open, and then sell the antivirus for a shit load of money. Yeah, impossible!

Mission Impossible 3: Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to kidnap Ethan Hunt’s wife, and threaten him for a “rabbit’s foot” to sell to terrorist organisations. Yeah, right.

Which brings us to Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. Directed by animation maestro Brad Bird of Ratatouille and The Incredibles fame, this latest adventure proves to be the most exciting and action-packed yet.

From the opening scene featuring LOST alum Josh Holloway, the pace moves at breakneck speed from one action sequence to the next. Its breathtaking to see how Brad tackles the framing of the action, seeing that he comes from an animation background. The result is exhilarating, and at times even improbable.

This installment also brings to the forefront the technology and gadgets and really feature in the movie in a big way, that also elevates Simon Pegg’s role somewhat. This time, the entire IMF has been disavowed for an alleged attack on the Kremlin. Without any backup and resources, Ethan and his team has to track down and stop a crazy attempt at inciting nuclear war.

So, back to the villain’s misison: Your mission, should you choose to accept, is to bomb the Kremlin, frame the entire IMF and bringing it down in the process, steal a nuclear activation device together with the nuclear bomb, and start a nuclear war. Well… good luck with that!

Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol stars Tom Cruise, Simon Pegg, Paula Patton and Jeremy Renner, Michael Nyqvist.

Rating: 8/10

PS: Given the amount of running Tom Cruise was subjected to in this film, I feel almost sorry for him. The guy’s 49! Give him a break man…