Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Movie: Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame

Genre: mystery-thriller

Chinese with English subtitles

Synopsis: The year is 689 and Empress Wu Setian (Carina Lau) is about to be coronated first female Chinese emperor.  To commemorate her coronation, she is having a 66 yard high statue of herself built.  As the coronation approaches, high ranking officials start dying by bursting into flame from within.  In a desperate attempt to solve – and stop – the murders, the empress orders the great Detective Dee to be released from prison – the prison she had sent him to eight years earlier.  Detective Dee’s investigation leads him through wild chases, attacks by mysterious assassins as well as government soldiers.  Along the way, more people are dying by the “Phantom Flame”.

My two cents: The movie had a lot going for it: huge sets, lots of martial arts fighting, supernatural enemies, an innovative storyline . . . My only wish was that the fighting had looked a little more realistic and less staged.  Some of the names in the English subtitles had interesting translations.  My favorite was the royal physician: Doctor Donkey Wang.  In retrospect – although not a bad movie, I would rather have waited for this to come around on TV.

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Love Crime

Movie: Love Crime

Genre: mystery-thriller

French with English Subtitles

Synopsis: Christine (Kristin Scott Thomas) is the head of the Paris office of a multinational company.  Her top assistant is Isabelle (Ludivine Sagnier).  When Isabelle witnesses Christine taking credit with the corporate headquarters in New York for Isabelle’s work, Isabelle is less than happy.  Christine is amused by this and tells her that it is all part of getting ahead – something Isabella needs to learn.  When Isabella takes Christine’s advice, Christine’s response is swift and brutal.  But Isabelle is a quick study.  To say more would give too much away . . . but the movie has twists right up to the end.

My two cents: I really enjoyed this movie.  Kristin Scott Thomas is one of my favorite actors and she did not let me down in this movie, although the real star was Ludivine Sagnier.  The plot really had me scratching my head trying to figure out what in the heck was going on.  This movie is definitely worth your time.

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Abduction

Movie: Abduction

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Nathan (Taylor Lautner) seems to be a typical teenaged boy.  He has a loving mother (Maria Bella) and a rather strict father (Jason Isaacs).  His biggest problems seem to be managing his anger issues and getting up the courage to ask his neighbor, Karen (Lilly Collins), out on a date.  Nathan’s world is turned upside down when he suspects his parents are not his biological parents.  It turns out a really nasty foreign agent is after Nathan and all hell breaks loose because now he know where Nathan is.  Nathan and his friend Karen go on the run.  It also turns out that the CIA is after Nathan.  It becomes a race to see if the CIA will be able to get Nathan before the foreign agent (and his seemingly endless supply of gunmen) can get him and kill him.

My two cents: I had a little problem with the idea of a teenager to be able to get through what Nathan has to do.  Other than that, this was a decent movie.  Probably no Oscars . . . but enjoyable enough.

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Drive

Movie: Drive

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: Ryan Gosling plays a character known only as “Driver” or “Kid”.  He is a mechanic who moonlights as a stunt driver and as a wheel-man for robberies – or whatever someone needs to “getaway” from.  Driver has a neighbor, Irene (Carey Mulligan) with a small child and a husband who is soon getting out of prison.  Driver and Irene clearly have some chemistry.  Drivers’ boss and agent is Shannon (Bryan Cranston).  Shannon is involved with a pair of mob bosses played by Albert Brooks and Ron Perlman.  When Irene’s husband gets out of prison, Driver helps him on a job that ends badly.  The further muddy the waters, the two mobsters get involved.  All Driver wants to do is get Irene and himself out alive.  Lots of action and lots of violence.

My two cents: I am getting to be a big fan of Ryan Gosling. From “Half Nelson” to “Fracture” to “Lars and the Real Girl” to “Blue Valentine” to “All Good Things” to “Crazy, Stupid, Love” to “Drive” he is like a chameleon.  He seems to effortlessly go from playing an emotionally-backward character to a suave lady’s man to an abusive controlling monster to a nice-guy wheel-man.  In this movie, Driver seems to be completely calm – but you get an occasional glimpse of the volcano waiting to erupt.  He is quietly eating dinner in a diner when someone who once employed him as a wheel-man offers him a job.  In a perfectly conversational voice, Driver tells the man “how about you shut your mouth before I knock your teeth down your throat and shut it for you” . . . and then calmly goes back to his dinner.  Albert Brooks was great as a smiling but utterly ruthless mob boss.  The violence in this movie is shocking at times, but if you can get past that, this is a great movie.

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Straw Dogs

Movie: Straw Dogs

Genre: thriller

Synopsis: David and Amy Sumner (Jamers Marsden and Kate Bosworth) have just moved to Amy’s hometown of Blackwater Mississippi.  David is a screenwriter working on a movie script and is something of a pacifist.  Amy’s return stirs up her old boyfriend, Charlie (Alexander Skarsgård) and his posse of rednecks. Charlie and his friends keep pushing David.  Finally the town trouble-maker, James Woods, provides the match that ignites the finale with the whole bunch doing their best to break into the house to kill them . . . when it turns out that if you push David hard enough, he will eventually push back.

My two cents: This movie had its moments, but not enough of them.  I thought the behavior of David and Amy was not too believable, given the circumstances.  In retrospect, I would have waited for this movie to hit HBO or Netflix.

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The Lion King 3D

Movie: The Lion King 3D

Genre: animated adventure

Synopsis: Simba is the son of Mufasa – the king of the lion pack.  Simba is next in line to be king, much to the frustration of his conniving uncle, Scar.  Scar plots a way to eliminate Musafa and tricks Simba into leaving the pack.  Simba eventually comes back to do battle with Scar and his hyenas to claim the throne from Scar.

My two cents:  I forgot just how great some of the songs were in this movie. I also forgot just how violent it gets.  I don’t understand how it managed to get a “G” rating.  It is a great movie, but I don’t think I would be comfortable taking a child under the age of 8 or 9 to see it.

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Warrior

Movie: Warrior

Genre: action-drama

Synopsis: Brendan Conlon (Joel Edgerton) and Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) are brothers.  Growing up, Tommy was a champion wrestler of amazing talent.  When their abusive, alcoholic father, Paddy (Nick Nolte), became too much to bear, Tom and his mother fled.  Brendan opted to stay behind.  Flash forward to the present.  Brendan is a high school physic teacher, married (to Jennifer Morrison) with children and is estranged from his father.  He is also about to lose his house to the bank.  Tommy has returned home for the first time since he left – while he was gone, he had no contact with his brother or his father.  Although he still despises his father, Tommy asks him to help him train for an upcoming Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) world championship.  Paddy has been sober for 1000 days and agrees to train Tommy, in hopes of building a relationship.  Brendan also enters the same MMA tournament – in hopes of winning the $5 million prize so he can save his house from foreclosure.

My two cents: A really enjoyable movie.  While there are a lot of fight sequences that are well done and fun to watch, the movie is just as much about a father trying to redeem himself with his sons and build a relationship with them – and the sons trying to bring themselves to forgive their father and each other and put the past behind them.  Nick Nolte was great to watch.  I first saw him as a boxer in “Rich Man Poor Man” in the 1976.  It was interesting to watch him play a tired old man trying to coach his middle-aged son as a fighter. I also liked seeing Jennifer Morrison (Brendan’s wife) – I have not seen much of her since she left “House”.

Bottom line: most definitely worth seeing.

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