Category Archives: Movies

Brooklyn’s Finest (Theaters)

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Brooklyn’s Finest is the latest film from acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua. The movie follows the lives of three New York cops all at different stages of their careers. When watching this film I couldn’t help but think about the movie Avatar. Both movies take familiar and somewhat recycled plot elements, yet they present them in a way that is so engaging that it almost makes them seem fresh. Brooklyn’s Finest is filled with cop cliches but it is so well executed that you can almost overlook many of these familiar elements and appreciate the movie as a whole.

BF follows the lives of three New York cops. Sal (Ethan Hawke) is a family man struggling to make ends meet in his household. When things get tough, he finds himself down a road of corruption from whihc there is not turning back. Eddie (Richard Gere) is the grizzled old veteran cop a week away from retirement who is saddled with a rookie partner for his remaining time on the force. Then there is Tango (Don Cheadle) who has been undercover so long he is losing his sense of identity and the line between who he is and who he is pretending to be is becoming increasingly blurred. Masterfully, all three of these plots intertwine at the end for the film’s climax.

While we’ve all seen similar characters to those mentioned here, the way they are portrayed by the actors is what really makes them so effective in this film. The entire cast does a great job making their roles believable. Another bright spot in the cast is the return of Wesley Snipes as Caz, a former drug dealer who was just released from prison. This is Snipes first role on the big screen since…Blade Trinity. It is nice to see him back in a major movie flexing his acting chops. Snipes is one of those rare actors who is an excellent physical presence as well as a commanding personallity. My only gripe is that his role in this film is fairly limited, but his interactions with Don Cheadle are some of the more interesting scenes of the entire film.

Overall, this is a pretty good flick. It doesn’t really break any new ground in terms of originality, but it is a well written and well acted film that is entertaining throughout.

Shutter Island (Theaters)

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Psychological thrillers are a lot like telling a joke. While the content and the set up are all very important, what makes it or breaks it is the delivery of the punchline. We’ve all heard even the best jokes screwed up by a poorly delivered punchline. The same rings true for thrillers. There is always some big reveal towards the end of the movie that most viewers either did or did not see coming. How it is revealed and what is revealed is crucial. I can’t even count how many promising thrillers were ruined by poor execution in this department. Which brings us to Shutter Island.

Shutter Island is the story of two federal marshalls who are sent to an asylum for the criminally insane to investigate the dissappearance of one of the patients. From the movie’s opening it is clear that not everything is as it seems. As the marshalls dig deeper and deeper into the disappearance they discover some shocking information about the island and themselves. That is about as detailed as it gets without getting into spoiler territory. Believe me when I say that this is a movie you will want to see and figure out for yourself.

I know many viewers will guess what the big twist might be at first, however it will be damn near impossible to figure out everything that the movie has hidden until the very powerful ending. As an avid moviegoer who usually figures out these types of things early on in the film, by the time the movie ended I was still genuinely surprised at its resolution. Director Martin Scorcese has had enough experience making quality movies that he definitely knows how to set up and deliver a punch line and this film is living proof of that.

Of course, Scorcese could not have pulled it off without his incredible cast. Leonardo DiCaprio is incredible as U.S. Marshall Teddy Daniels. Within the past five years or so, Dicaprio has become one of my favorite actors not only due to his incredible talent, but also his uncanny ability for picking solid scripts. His portrayal in this film is probably his best work yet, which says a lot when you consider some of his past performances. Mark Ruffalo also gives a great portrayal as Dicaprio’s partner Chuck Aule. Ruffalo is an excellent straight man to Dicaprio’s brooding, intense, paranoid character.

Another major standout is Ben Kingsley, who portrays Dr. Cawley, the doctor in charge of running the asylum. While it is no shocker that Kingsley is an excellent actor, it is nice to see him in a quality film that is deserving of his talents. Jackie Earl Haley, perhaps best known for his role as Rorschach in Watchmen or his upcoming role as the new Freddy Kreuger, also has a brief but amazingly intense scene with Dicaprio. With Scorcese’s direction and the brilliant performances by the cast, this film was easliy one of the most immersive movies I’ve seen in a long time. I felt genuinely disturbed by what was unfolding on the screen.

Shutter Island is an excellent movie. Too many films resort to cheap narration or overexposure to reveal the final plot points.With Shutter Island, each scene is well crafted and the way the plot is unveiled makes you feel like you are discovering what is going on a long with the characters, which just enhances the overall experience. I would highly recommend this movie to everyone. There is a good chance that this will wind up scooping up quite a few oscars at the year’s end and that is no joke.

Daybreakers (Theaters)

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Daybreakers is the latest movie to hop onto the vampire bandwagon. Unlike the countless other vampire flicks coming out these days, Daybreakers offers up a unique twist that not only sets it apart from other films in the genre, but provides the driving force that moves the film’s story along. Daybreakers distinguishes itself from the rest of the pack by successfully taking a familiar idea in a bold new direction. Daybreakers is not a perfect film by any means, but it is a welcome breath of fresh air in an already overly saturated genre.

In 2019, a plague has caused the majority of the world’s population to become vampires. The few remaining humans are forced into hiding for fear of being hunted down and farmed for their blood. Overpopulation combined with a shortage of humans, has resulted in a rapidly diminishing food supply which is predicted to run out in a month.
The vampire leaders are desperate to find a solution to this problem before human extinction eventually leads to the end of vampires also. This twist is an interesting deviation from the standard “humans vs. vampires” in that it acknowledges the dependency between the two and focuses a majority of the films attention on this fact.

The acting in the film is pretty good overall. Ethan Hawke gives an excellent portrayal of Edward Dalton, the vampire scientist struggling to find a solution to the food supply crisis. Despite him being a cold vampire, he manages to convey a great deal of emotion while still coming off convincingly as a vamp. Willem Dafoe is his usual eccentric self as the leader of the last remaining humans who has an interesting secret. Perhaps the best part of the cast is the amazing Sam Neill. He portrays Charles Bromley, head of a billion dollar corporation whose purpose is to harvest humans for their blood. Some of the coolest villains are those who can remain calm and even polite while in the middle of committing some truly atrocious acts. Neill has this down pat as his character can transform from gentleman to vicious killer in the blink of an eye.

While the premise and the overall story hold up fairly well throughout the film, it seems to lose a bit of steam in the final act. I don’t know whetehr it was the ‘solution” that they discover or whether the premise wasn’t quite strong enough to drive the entire movie for me, but the momentum that was built up started to lose some of its energy by the end. Daybreakers is still a pretty good movie. It presents a fairly new twist on an old idea and the film is entertaining throughout. I wouldn’t expect anything ground breaking when wtching this film, but it is interesting enough to keep you guessing and wanting to know what happens next.