Showing posts with label Melissa Leo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melissa Leo. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Jackman and Gyllenhaal Headline This Top-Notch, Fincher-esque Thriller: Our Review of "Prisoners" (2013)

Directed By: Denis Villeneuve 

Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Terrence Howard, Paul Dano, Melissa Leo

Rating: R for disturbing violent content including torture, and language throughout

Run Time: 2 hours, 33 minutes

Synopsis: Keller Dover (Jackman) is facing every parent's worst nightmare. His six-year-old daughter, Anna, is missing, together with her young friend, Joy, and as minutes turn to hours, panic sets in. The only lead is a dilapidated RV that had earlier been parked on their street. Heading the investigation, Detective Loki (Gyllenhaal) arrests its driver, Alex Jones (Dano), but a lack of evidence forces his release. As the police pursue multiple leads and pressure mounts, knowing his child's life is at stake the frantic Dover decides he has no choice but to take matters into his own hands. But just how far will this desperate father go to protect his family? (Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! We are BACK after a relatively long hiatus, and we’re excited about this film we’re coming back from. Real quick though we want to apologize for the length of our absence from blogging. It’s just been a really busy last couple of months and our schedules have been so mixed up that it’s been difficult to A.) see a movie together, or B.) record, transcribe and post a review if we DID see a movie. But things are starting to get back to normal and we should be coming back with regular review posts as we get closer to the end of the year. We’ll also be posting reviews we’ve had in the can during our hiatus, so be on the lookout for those.

But the other night Sarah and I were able to catch a preview screening of this weekend’s new drama, Prisoners. It is the Hollywood debut of French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve, who has already made a name for himself with foreign films like his Academy Award-nominated 2010 film Incendies.

Prisoners starts Jake Gyllenhaal as a Pennsylvania police detective, Detective Loki, who picks up the case of two young girls who have been abducted on Thanksgiving Day. Hugh Jackman and Terrence Howard play Keller Dover and Franklin Birch, the fathers of the girls who are taken; Maria Bello and Viola Davis play the mothers…

Sarah: And Paul Dano plays the prime suspect – a man with a low IQ that lives with his religious aunt, played by Oscar-winner Melissa Leo. It’s a fantastic cast!

Sunday, April 14, 2013

It's Die Hard in the White House, and We Like It For That!: Our Review of "Olympus Has Fallen" (2013)

Directed By: Antoine Fuqua (Training Day

Starring: Gerard Butler, Aaron Eckhart, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo, Angela Bassett, Dylan McDermott

Rating: R for strong violence and language throughout

Run Time: 2 hours

Synopsis: Mike Banning (Butler), the former head Secret Service agent to President Benjamin Asher (Eckhart), has been demoted to working the Treasury Department after Banning saved Asher in a car accident but couldn't save the First Lady. When North Korean terrorists infiltrate the White House and take Asher and part of his Cabinet hostage in order to get U.S. troops pulled out of the Korean DMZ, Banning ends up being the only man who can get inside the building and save the President.

REVIEW

Andrew: Hello readers! The other night Sarah and I decided to catch a movie that's been out for a few weeks and we hadn't had the chance to see yet, and that movie was Antoine Fuqua's Olympus Has Fallen, starring Gerard Butler (300) and Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight).

In the film Butler plays former U.S. Army Ranger and Secret Service agent Mike Banning, who - after the White House is attacked by a North Korean terrorist group - winds up being the only man who can stop the terrorists from their fiendish plot.  Honestly this was a film that we were terribly interested in seeing but we needed to see something and this seemed like one of the better options out of everything in theatres we haven't already seen. Sarah, what did you think of Olympus Has Fallen now that we've seen it?