We are a family that loves movies and TV shows. Each week I’ll share what we watched and what we thought about them. I hope it will give you good insight and even some ideas if you’re stuck finding something new.
1. Columbiana. This is an interesting flick that came out back in 2011 that stars Zoe Saldana. She plays a vigilante assassin who became that way after witnessing her parents’ brutal murder as a child. She is driven by her desire to find and kill the mobster responsible for their deaths. It was a so-so movie. My biggest criticism is that too much time was spent on her childhood backstory, and it left me feeling impatient for them to get on with it. There’s also some kind of cheesy out of place scenes, but overall, it’s a decent movie. It’s rated PG-13 (you can read the parent guide here).
2. Expendables 4. So, these movies are not to be watched for their great cinematic performances. It stars Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham–so the point is action and body count, not incredible acting. That being said–I was pretty disappointed in this one. I kind of liked the first 3–bringing back some of the old-time action stars into a vigilante group of assassins. When the not-so-great actors are even more terrible than you expect–that’s not good. Add that to a mediocre story and terrible CGI. I’m guessing they didn’t have much budget. Watch it if you must, but I would wait until it’s free with one of your subscriptions. It’s rated R–lots of violence, bloody deaths and raunchiness.
3. Luther. I love crime solving/murder mystery movies and occasionally enjoy ones involving serial killers. This is all of the above. We watched the movie this week and I just found out it’s based on a TV series–which we will now have to watch as well. I love Idris Alba. He plays the main character–Detective John Luther who is on the trail of a serial killer (played by Andy Serkis) that is terrorizing London. The killer is a master of bribery and blackmail often convincing his victims to kill themselves –and is even able to get Luther sent to prison after finding out some illegal dealings of his past. Luther breaks out of jail and is determined to stop the killer while he is being hunted down by his former police co-workers. He eventually gains the trust of the current detective working the case when her daughter is kidnapped by the killer and she needs his help to get her back. It’s a very intense, violent and at times disturbing movie, but it was also very, very good. It’s rated R.
4. The Covenant. This is a very intense, but very good movie. It’s about an Army Sergent, John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) who’s tasked with locating IED factories in Afghanistan during the war. He is assigned an interpreter, Ahmed (Dar Salim). His crew is attacked by the Taliban–all are killed, and he is severely injured. Ahmed risks his life carrying Kinley through mountain passes and valleys constantly on the run from the Taliban who are seeking to find and kill them both. He succeeds in getting Kinley back to the army base where he is flown home to America. After recovering, Kinley finds out that Ahmed and his family are now living on the run from the Taliban in Afghanistan, so he goes back to rescue them and bring them safely to America. It’s a harrowing tale and I was hooked from beginning to end. It’s rated R.
I would love to hear your opinions and any suggestions you may have of what to watch.