An Amazing Action Flick | Review of ‘John Wick: Chapter 2’

By Cynthia Ayala

“After returning to the criminal underworld to repay a debt, John Wick discovers that a large bounty has been put on his life.”

—IMDB

What an amazing movie. Sequels are always touch and go, but this one was a sequel done right. It follows that saying “live by the sword, die by the sword,” and it really captures those elements. It was just an amazingly executed sequel that has tons of action in it, but thankfully, the action doesn’t take away from the story. And that’s probably why this film is so successful, it has a story, it’s not just action sequence after action sequence of non-essential details for a mind-numbing experience. No, this film has a story. John, played by the ever so talented Keanu Reeves, got out of the crime world, he was out, he’s happy, he just wants to remain retired. But, of course, the darkness as a lure to it, and then there is blackmail. The person who helped him get out is calling in a favor. But it’s not just any favor, it’s an impossible favor that will leave John with a mark on his back.
Continue reading “An Amazing Action Flick | Review of ‘John Wick: Chapter 2’”

Potential Floundered | Review of ‘Now You See Me 2’

By Cynthia Ayala

Now You See Me 2 starring Jesse Eisenberg, Mark Ruffalo, Woody Harrelson, Dave Franco, Daniel Radcliffe & Lizzy Caplan
Summit Entertainment
Image Credit: IMDB

The Four Horsemen resurface and are forcibly recruited by a tech genius to pull off their most impossible heist yet.

    —IMDB

Almost as good as it’s predecessor, but the film suffers from a big problem of overreaching which seems to be a big problem with Hollywood lately, just make things bigger, bring everything in, the story comes second. Same thing happened right here. The tricks are too big, too outlandish, and yes, I know that magic tricks can be as big as a plane, but for the film purposes, the story should come first, not second, to make for a more enjoyable experience. Continue reading “Potential Floundered | Review of ‘Now You See Me 2’”

‘Insurgent’ Delivers an Amazing Sequel | Review of ‘The Divergent Series: Insurgent’

By: Cynthia Ayala

‘Insurgent’ starring Shailene Woodley & Theo James
Summit Entertainment

Insurgent stars Shailene Woodley as Tris Prior, the Divergent protagonist who is on the run from the power hungry Erudites lead by the ruthless Jeanine (played by Kate Winslet). Alongside Four (played by Theo James), her friend and love, the two search for allies in the unlikeliest places of all in the futuristic ruins of Chicago. Together, they must find what Tris’s mother gave her life to hide, what Jeanine want’s so badly, the secret of the past that may be the key – or destruction – of the future.

Incredibly fast paced, this film delivers a punch and evaluates what it means to be a part of something, a community. Separated into factions – Dauntless, Candor, Erudites, Abnegation, and Amity – society has put up walls to differentiate themselves. However, those who fit more than one faction are Divergent, a quality that puts everyone, especially Tris, in terrible danger. The film goes beyond the first to evaluate who these characters are and where they come from. A fast-paced film jumps from scene to scene as it follows these characters who are being hunted down by Jeanine who discovers that soon; she needs the daughter of the woman she killed, she needs Tris. Talk about the irony. Kate Winslet plays the villainous so spectacularly.
Continue reading “‘Insurgent’ Delivers an Amazing Sequel | Review of ‘The Divergent Series: Insurgent’”

Divergent Comic-Con Plans Revealed

By: Sean O’Connell There are multiple movies that we know are going to be in San Diego for Comic-Con 2013 – films like The Amazing Spider-Man 2 , The Hunger Games: Catching Fire or a full slate of Marvel projects. And then there are the titles that were assumed to be in attendance, but were waiting on confirmation. Today, Divergent moves from the “Maybe” column … Continue reading Divergent Comic-Con Plans Revealed

Game Of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Will Lead Alex Proyas’ Gods Of Egypt

By: Nick Venable For those not living under rocks on the other end of the galaxy, HBO’s Game of Thrones will soon be airing its third season finale, after last week’s episode took the Internet by bloody storm. (No spoilers.) One of the show’s stars, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, is set to take over Hollywood in much the same way. The Wrap reports Coster-Waldau is currently in … Continue reading Game Of Thrones’ Nikolaj Coster-Waldau Will Lead Alex Proyas’ Gods Of Egypt

Highlander Reboot Loses Its Director

By: Eric Eisenberg If Juan Carlos Fresnadillo isn’t careful he’s going to wind up with a reputation of having a short attention span. In October of last year it was announced that he was moving on from the just-about-dead remake of The Crow to make a new version of Highlander. Unlike The Crow, some forward progress was made with the adventure film, signing Ryan Reynolds … Continue reading Highlander Reboot Loses Its Director

Warm Bodies Gets A Sweet, Funny New Poster

By: Eric Eisenberg When the first trailer arrived last week a lot of people quickly changed their minds about the upcoming zom-rom-com Warm Bodies. While the first few official stills seemed to paint it as “Twilight with zombies” (it doesn’t help that it’s being released by the same studio), the footage we saw on Thursday replaced ideas of moody, sparkly members of the undead with … Continue reading Warm Bodies Gets A Sweet, Funny New Poster

Harry Potter’s David Thewlis Joins The Cast Of Red 2

By: Eric Eisenberg David Thewlis is well known to the fans of fantasy movies thanks to his work as Remus Lupin in the series of Harry Potter films, but now he’s getting set to introduce himself to fans of action movies. The actor has officially signed on to the cast of Red 2, the sequel to the Robert Schwentke-directed comic book adaptation from 2010. Thewlis … Continue reading Harry Potter’s David Thewlis Joins The Cast Of Red 2

The Hunger Games Director Gary Ross Confirms He Won’t Make Catching Fire

The story that broke last week claiming Gary Ross wouldn’t return to direct Hunger Games sequel Catching Fire seemed pretty solid, but everyone went into the Easter weekend without any confirmation from Ross himself or the studio, leaving room for a lot of other rumors that the deal wasn’t quite done and Ross might return after all. But now you can put an end to … Continue reading The Hunger Games Director Gary Ross Confirms He Won’t Make Catching Fire