Escape Plan

THE PITCH

WORTH

$$1/2

THE VIEWING

"If I don't get out, I will kill you."

Escape Plan was cute.  I don’t want to say ‘typical’ Sylvester Stallone movie because to me a typical Sly Stone movie is a tad bit better than Escape Plan… “Bullet to the Head”, for instance or “The Specialist”... both were very good, typical… Sylvester Stallone type flicks.

    Maybe it was the acting from the rest of the B level cast, including but certainly not limited to Curtis Jackson, otherwise know as 50cent.   Objectively, maybe his acting wasn't as bad as I think it is because I can’t separate the rapper from the actor but then again that should fall on the casting director and not me right? Perhaps it was the predictability besides all the MacGyver situations that Stallone's character get’s out of, you pretty much know how this is going to end.  Whatever the case, the popcorn was warm and the pop was cold (without the ice)... I enjoyed myself.

    Escape Plan is worth watching ONLY after everything else is scratched off your “must see” list… and maybe a few off the  “want to see” list.

letter grade: C-

Captain Phillips

THE PITCH

WORTH

$$$1/2


THE VIEWING

"Listen up, we have been boarded by armed pirates. If they find you, remember, you know this ship, they don't. Stick together and we'll be alright. Good luck."

 Watching a movie that you know the ending to isn't the ideal way to spend a hard earned dollar in a theater. In fact, its almost stupid unless it is based on a real life event in which case those stories, albeit predictable, usually carries their own weight.  That true story should be powerful enough on it's own merit if there was an effort to make a film after it.  That was discussed back a few weeks ago in the RUSH review but deserves repeating… The true masters can take a real story and focus on the minuscule details that we sometimes overlook in a massive real life event and birth more stories out the indegenous base work.

   Very interesting to watch, especially if you kept up with the actual event years ago.  I read that there were some exaggerations and some unfair representations of the crew.  Wrong or right the movie itself was put together extremely well. Nice chemistry. Intense encounters. Paul Greengrass didn't introduced the pirates to the Tom Hanks until they were actually face to face on set… to help create ‘real’ tension… it worked

  Captain Phillips is worth watching.

   letter Grade: B+

recommendation:  The short film ASAD was a really good film about the lifes of some somalian pirates... and there is a really nice story in the mix as well.... very well made.
:
Asad - Short Film Trailer from Nice Shoes on Vimeo.