CHARLIE’S ANGELS (2019) – My rating: 7.5/10

Charlie’s Angels is an action-comedy written and directed by Elizabeth Banks from a story by Evan Spiliotopoulos and David Auburn. It is the third installment in the Charlie’s Angels film series and serves as a continuation of the story that began with the television series of the same name by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and the two previous theatrical films, Charlie’s Angels (2000) and Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle (2003). I absolutely didn’t want to see Charlie’s Angels because it sort of symbolizes flesh peddling.  This version had more substance and less sex but was still based on sexy women luring men by showing excessive skin. I’m just saying!

A team of ladies, employed by the Townsend Agency and known as Charlie’s Angels, are led by senior operative John Bosley (Patrick Stewart). Their mission is to capture international embezzler Jonny Smith (Chris Pang) in Rio de Janeiro and turn him over to American authorities. A year later, Elena Houghlin (Naomi Scott) who is a programmer engineer, employed by entrepreneur Alexander Brock (Sam Claflin), wants to expose Brock as well as Peter Fleming (Nat Faxon) who is head of development, for covering up a device that she helped invent called Calisto. The device is not ready to go into production but has been given the go-ahead by Fleming despite being told by Elena that Calisto has the potential to trigger fatal seizures when in use. Fleming convinces Brock to back him in signing off on production, immediately.

With the help of Angel Jane Kano (Ella Balinska) and Angel Sabina Wilson (Kristen Stewart), Elena meets with operative Edgar “Bosley” (Djimon Hounsou) to turn over her findings, but an assassin named Hodak (Jonathan Tucker) ambushes the meeting and subsequently kills Edgar and leaves Elena to drown. Jane Kano rescues Elena and brings her to operative Rebekah “Bosley” (Elizabeth Banks) with the help of her partner, Sabina Wilson. Meanwhile, John Bosley, who has since retired from the agency, discovers that Rebekah has tagged him with the agency’s specialized subdermal implant without his knowledge. Rebekah tasks Jane and Sabina, joined by Elena, with breaking into Brock’s corporate headquarters to steal the remaining Calisto prototypes before they can be duplicated.

This time around, Charlie’s Angels was better than it’s predecessors but still not considered great.  What made it better was the plot and the seriousness of the characters as they went after their enemy.  The fighting didn’t look so choreographed and the dialogue was comprehensible.  There was less flesh peddling and I really enjoyed the movie.  There have been many changes like a whole agency of Angels instead of just three. The name Bosley is a title as well as a position of authority.  Michael Strahan has been introduced as a Bosley of the agency’s New York branch. Robert Clotworthy is now the voice of Charles “Charlie” Townsend, owner of the Townsend Agency, formerly held by the late John Forsythe. Elena appears to be a new recruit and most likely will appear in future Angel’s films.  I liked Charlie’s Angels and recommend it. It received mixed reviews from critics and has grossed $51.5 million worldwide. Check It Out!

KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD (2017) – My rating: 8/10

I was pleasantly surprised when King Arthur: Legend of the Sword turned out to be a pretty descent movie.  Lots of noise and lots of fuss over a legendary fictional sword that been planted permanently into the ground for decades.  The story is a legend we’ve heard before but is always fun to revisit.  While this was not the best remake I’ve seen, it was one of the better movies being featured at this time.

Mordred, (Rob Knighton) who is a warlock has an army that he plans to use in order to defeat Camelot, thereby ruling over all of mankind while wielding his magic and power with an iron fist.  His plans were foiled only by his beheading thanks to Uther Pendragon, (Eric Bana) thus saving Camelot.  But wait, Uther has a ruthless, evil brother, Vortigern (Jude Law) who continues Mordred’s plan of a take over of Camelot, killing Uther and his wife.  However, in all the killing and excitement, he overlooks Uther’s baby son who is saved because he was hidden in a small boat and drifted down stream where he was found and raised by prostitutes in Londinium and renamed Arthur.

Arthur, Charlie Hunnam grew up as a commoner of the streets, well known and well liked.  He is also quite skilled as a fighter as has 2 best friends, Sir Tristan “Wet Stick” (Kingsley Ben-Adir) and Backlack (Neil Maskell), as well as a mentor who is also a highly skilled fighter, Sir George, (Tom Wu).  Of course Arthur has no knowledge of his true lineage and when forced along with other men of his age to try and pull the magic sword from its current resting place, he protested despite successfully retrieving the sword.  To help Arthur, who is now in grave danger, is The Mage, (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) a woman identified as an acolyte who works for Merlin and supports Arthur as well the resistance, which is lead by Sir Bedivere, (Djimon Hounsou) a former knight of Uther’s.

If you’re familiar with the story, you know that the sword holds special powers and ensures that the owner will rule the land but first he must be able to pull the sword from it’s resting place, which no one, until now, has been able to do since the only one who can, is the true royal heir to the throne.

I found this version, directed by Guy Ritchie, to have been exiting and well acted.  I was thoroughly entertained and especially loved watching Djimon Hounsou who I’ve always thought of as “eye candy” run around fighting and flexing his muscles.  Also, the special effects were spectacular, especially the sea witches who were a mass of several women.  If you’re looking for a descent movie, check out King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.

 

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THE LEGEND OF TARZAN (2016) – My rating: 7.5/10

Just how many times is Hollywood going to remake Tarzan?  I can’t come up with what motivates one to take on a project that’s been done so many times.  The first Tarzan movie was a silent film called “Tarzan of the Apes” and was released in 1918.  The ninth was called “Tarzan the Ape Man” and was a motion picture released in 1932.  All in all, there were 57 Tarzan movies made between 1918 and 2013.  Several books were written, starting in 1912, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, who created the character.  There were also many Tarzan television series through the years.  Having said that, it seems Tarzan continues to be a fascinating subject that never grows old and never stops making money at the box office.  With a huge budget of $180M, The Legend of Tarzan finished #2 on the weekend box office behind “Finding Dory” grossing $46.5ååM after being released less than a week.  Go figure!  The story basically stays the same.  A young boy is brought up in the jungle by apes after his parents are killed.  Upon his return back to civilization, (England) Tarzan, who has fallen in love and married to Jane Porter, has acclimated to life in England having discovered his true identity as Lord Greystoke.  Under King Leopole’s rule, Tarzan is asked to scout out his old digs in the Congo for signs of the Kings improvements to the land.  Instead, something else is uncovered that includes a plan that Captain Rom intends to use the diamonds to pay for a massive army to subdue the Congo and allow Belgium to mine its wealth for Leopold’s benefit.  Of course Tarzan being ruthless and powerful, will stop at nothing to rescue his family, the Congo and the slaves, along with the right to live free.  The claim to fame in this version of Tarzan is eye-candy,  Alexander Skarsgård as Tarzan / John Clayton III / Lord Greystoke, the beautiful Margot Robbie as Tarzan’s wife / Jane Porter Clayton / Lady Greystoke, the charismatic and clever, Samuel L. Jackson as George Washington Williams, an American envoy who suspects the king of several atrocities, Academy award winner, Christoph Waltz as Captain Léon Rom, a corrupt merciless Belgian captain, sent by King Leopold of Belgium to find diamonds and control the region and the handsome hunk, Djimon Hounsou as Chief Mbonga, the leader of an African tribe who controls the diamond region, and wants revenge against Tarzan for the death of his son.

While The Legend of Tarzan was basically the same old story, I found it fun and interesting to watch.  Being a huge fan of Alexander Skarsgård from the days of True Blood and Christoph Waltz from Django Unchained and Inglorious Basterds and Djimon Hounsou from Countless movies like Gladiator and In America, I enjoyed their flawless performances, the absolutely beautiful scenery, the special effects, the countless animals and I loved seeing the bad guys get what was coming to them.  I think Tarzan is worth going to see on the big screen in 3D or standard.  It was an entertaining movie!

 

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FURIOUS 7 (2015) – My rating: 6.5/10

I’m disappointed to say, the last movie with Paul Walker was not a good one.  Furious 7 was so digitized and robotic, I almost dozed on it.  Far too many car chases and far too many crashes.  The team must have done billions, not millions, but billions of dollars worth of damage to the cities they frequented.  The destruction of buildings were worst than Ironman 3 and Transformers.  These crash/chase and demolition scenes went on endlessly.  The story line wasn’t much better.  The real kicker [YOU MAY CONSIDER THIS A SPOILER] was when Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) was in the hospital, laid up with severe injuries, including a broken arm, which was cast from shoulder to wrist, decided he had to leave.  His cast arm was bent 45 degrees, so to remove the cast, he simply straightened out his arm and the cast exploded off.  Even the audience laughed.  There wasn’t any semblance of reality in the whole movie.  Owen Shaw’s brother, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is killing members of the team, one by one, for revenge after the team killed Owen in Furious 6.  Also a Somalian terrorist called Jakarde (Djimon Hounsou), and a corrupt government official called “Mr. NoBody”  (Kurt Russell) are both competing to steal a computer terrorism program called God’s Eye, that can turn any technological device into a weapon. Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and the team must reconvene in order to stop Deckard and retrieve the God’s Eye program while caught in a power struggle between terrorist and the United States government.

On the bright side, Hollywood tried to give Paul Walker a farewell at the end, which was descent but also digitized, which sort of spoiled it for me.  I understand digital when the body is absent, but even the fight scenes were digitized.  Some of the movements were so fast, you barely caught what had just happened.   I understand Paul’s real life brothers stood in for some of the scenes and Paul himself had filmed almost half of the movie before he died.  Even though Brick Mansions was not Paul’s last movie, it paid more tribute to him as an actor than Furious 7.  I was very disappointed in the film and saddened that we lost such a fine actor but I’m trying to keep it real.  Overall, it you’re a fan, I still say see it on the big screen since it’s being shown in 3D as well as regular format.  The younger you are, the more likely you are to tolerate the over-the-top crashes and demolition of buildings.  I’m just saying!

SEVENTH SON (2014) – My rating: 6.5/10

It looks like the fillers have begun.  Seventh Son is a pretty good story with lots of action but it’s equates to just more of the same.  I will admit, I like the way this film’s story was told better than some of the other season fillers but the fact remains, it is what it is.  I keep wondering what the near future will hold for the movie industry.  What hasn’t Hollywood filmed about.  What’s new on the horizon?  There are always biographies, true life events, super heroes and fantasies/sci fiction but how will the story change?  They’ve already run out of new looks for aliens and new horror situations.  They brought back most of the action heroes so much that they’re bordering on silly.  The period pieces are becoming stale, making my point about Seventh Son.

Some of the characters that make up this film are the evil queen, Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore), Master Gregory aka, The Spook (Jeff Bridges) and the Spook Apprentices (Kit Harington who plays Mr. Bradley and Ben Barnes who plays Tom Ward) amounting to good vs evil.  Speaking of evil, the ever popular Djimon Hounsou plays Radu, one of the evil queen’s followers. Good wins, thank God, but not until many are dead and much is destroyed.  BTW:  a Spook, in this film, is a demon or evil spirit hunter and a filler is a so so movie, not meant to be an epic block buster, just something to do until something better comes along.  Sometimes a filler gets away and becomes a block buster, but you don’t have to worry about Seventh Son, it’s a filler for sure.  With veteran actors like Moore and Bridges, how bad could it be, plus we were honored with the familiar face of Kit Harington who play Jon Snow,  from Game of Thrones.  You won’t want your money back or consider walking out on it since it’s actually entertaining.  It’s also shown in 3D for those who want to spent some extra money — Personally, I think you should skip the 3D.  Over all, Seventh Son is an okay movie with nothing new to offer.

BAGGAGE CLAIM (2014) – My rating: 7/10

Baggage Claim is an average girly flick about the oldest daughter, out of 3 sisters, who is still not married or engaged.  Paula Patton plays Montana, the daughter of an annoying mother, played by Jenifer Lewis.  Hunks like Taye Diggs, Djimon Hounsou, Boris Kodjoe and Tyler Lepley ended up in hot pursuit of Montana but none were worthy.  Montana wanted to please her mother by getting married and providing her with grandchildren but just wasn’t feeling any of her suitors.  Montana’s best friend, played by Derek Luke, lives in the same apartment building with his fiancé and is always lending her a shoulder to cry on.  Montana is a flight attendant whose co workers/friends are Jill Scott who plays Gail and Adam Brody who plays Sam.  Together, they pull out all the stops to help Montana find someone, within 30 days, to take to her sister’s rehearsal dinner. At this point, she would do anything to get her family off her back about getting married.  The pressure is on since her sister’s marriage will leave Montana as the only woman in the family not to have taken the plunge.  Baggage Claim is a cute film that holds a cute message.  Worth seeing on DVD.