HOMEFRONT updated

(2013) 100 Minutes, Rated R

Mike's Review:  Jason Statham can pretty much play any movie where the good guy is forced to fight as a means to protect something or someone.  Granted almost all of his movies are the same,  they are still fun to watch on the big screen.  The only weird thing about this movie was seeing Jason Statham with long hair.

Best Scene: Any scene where Jason Statham is fighting.

Mike's Rating: Worth the price of the ticket and DVD worthy.

Bean's Review:  Another reliable Jason Statham movie in that you expect him to be the good guy who defeats evil and saves the day.  In this movie, Statham’s character is defending his home and child from stereotypical bully redneck scum.  He accomplishes this in a showcase of his physical prowess and snappy comebacks.

This is a movie to enjoy after a long stressful day at work.

Best Scene: When the daughter whacks the school bully after asking him nicely – “twice”

Bean's Rating:  Full ticket, matinee or DVD – a movie that is enjoyable to watch more than once.

A.C.’s Review:   HOMEFRONT is the latest Jason Statham picture to hit the theaters and a worthy effort.

In the movie he plays a retired DEA agent who must stand tall against a variety of bad guys that range from meth heads, to rednecks to a biker gang that seems borrowed right out of Sons of Anarchy all the while protecting his young daughter.

If you loved 1980’s action movies this is a throwback to that earlier era…while not as over the top as some (Commando comes to mind) this could easily have been made back then. There is the expected hand to hand combat when you have Statham and the brutality is not toned down to get a PG-13 rating to get the teen crowd in the theater.   Best of all the stunts look like they were all practical and not computer generated.   In fact I would lay money down that the huge explosion at the end is real and not the usually phony CGI explosions and fire that are easily detected in today’s movies. In short there is nothing like the real thing.

Best Scene: James Franco who plays a much better villain here as Gator Bodine redeems himself after the horrible role he played as the bad guy in Springbreak. The look on his face is priceless as he watched his entire drug operation going up in flames thanks to one of Statham’s booby traps. That stunned look was some great acting.

A.C.'s Rating: Worth full price admission.


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OLDBOY

(2013) 104 Minutes, Rated R

A.C.’s Review:  This film is a Spike Lee remake of a somewhat infamous South Korean by the same name.

Starring Josh Brolin and Elisabeth Olsen (younger sister of the Olson Twins and soon to play the Scarlett Witch in AVENGERS 2). Brolin plays a reprehensible alcoholic who one morning after a binge wakes up in a hotel room…only it’s not a hotel room but a prison cell designed to look like one. The private prison is overseen by Samuel L. Jackson.

Brolin spends the next 20 years in the prison wondering who put him there and why. During that time he undergoes a transformation from drunk to a martial artist (learned from the TV supplied in his room) planning for the day he escapes all the while yearning to reconnect with his daughter who was three at the time of his imprisonment. Inexplicably his captor lets him free but Brolin must remain a fugitive because the captor framed Brolin for his ex-wife’s murder.

Now the anti-hero must clear his name, exact revenge and reunite with his daughter. Along the way he’s aided by a woman he has met upon his release played by Olson.

What follows is a very graphic odyssey of sex and violence where heads are partially blown off from shot gun blasts, people are tortured with salt in open wounds to name a few as Brolin must examine his own past in hopes of understanding why he was imprisoned and save the life of his daughter. It all concludes with a twist on the level of THE SIXTH SENSE that may horrify viewers more than all the onscreen violence.

Best Scene:  Brolin wasting bad guys as he makes his way back into the prison to confront Samuel L. Jackson in search of information. Not a film filled with humor but the funniest thing was him telling Olson he needed to see the yellow pages and asking where all the pay phones are.

A.C.’s Rating:This movie is not everyone’s cup of tea but if you can find it in one of the only 500 theaters its playing in nationwide, it’s worth admission price. When it comes out on DVD it’s going to be a good rental.

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