Parker

First Hit:  Direct, no surprises and not very entertaining.

There isn’t much of a point to the film besides, don’t double-cross Parker (Jason Statham). If you do you’ll get yours – because he always does what he says he’s going to do.

Hurley (Nick Nolte) is his girlfriend Claire’s (Emma Booth) father. Hurley sets up a robbery job for Parker with guys he’s worked with in the past. However, these guys, led by Melander (Michael Chiklis) double-cross Parker and attempt to kill him. Thinking that Parker is dead, they go on about their business.

However, Parker is not dead and heads to Miami to deliver pay-back. There he meets a real estate agent named Leslie (played by Jennifer Lopez). Overall, the film might have worked better without Leslie’s part, because she didn’t bring much added value (except maybe box office draw and maybe some humanitarian actions by Parker) to the overall film.

The best part of the film, for me, was the interaction between Parker and Claire. There was a sweetness and hopefulness that made their relationship work.

Statham did what he does best, play rough and determined. The occasions of compassion towards Lopez and Booth were nice. Nolte feels like he’s not embodied a character in anything recently including this film. He’s saying lines in his gruff way, but there is no depth to his acting which he was great at doing early in his career. Booth was exquisite and one of the better aspects of the film – I enjoyed watching her and her expressions. Chiklis was alright as the double crossing thief. Lopez was good in an unnecessary role. She does well on the screen but I found her character distracting from the point of the film. John J. McLaughlin wrote a mediocre screenplay. Taylor Hackford directed some good action sequences, but the overall film didn’t hold together really well.

Overall: If you like Statham this is his typical kind of film and it is OK and not great as an action film.

Broken City

First Hit:  Disjointed in telling the story, OK acting, and in the end, not enough to make it worthwhile.

Try as I might, I didn’t see enough in the opening credits nor in the video tape review to make me believe that Billy Taggart (Mark Wahlberg) did something wrong or so wrong that the commissioner Carl Fairbanks (Jeffrey Wright) and Mayor Hostetler (Russell Crowe) tell him he must retire.

I guess I missed something and this part is important to the believability of the story. However, the film supports this premise, of the wrongdoing, by indicating that Taggart was a hop-head and drank too much during his time as a undercover cop.

The killing in question is of a young man who supposedly killed Natalie Barrow's (Natalie Martinez) sister. For his support, Natalie and her family embrace Taggart which includes Natalie living with him as boyfriend and girlfriend.

Mayor Hostetler runs the city of New York with an iron fist and with corruption based decisions. It’s done because this is the way cities work, or so they say. Anyway Taggart wants to make things right.

Wahlberg was good enough; it was the film’s story telling that let him down. Crowe was OK but it didn’t work for me. Wright was dark and puzzling in his role because you never really got that he cared about anything but holding on to his job. Martinez was OK as a minor character. Alona Tal (as Katy Bradshaw) as Taggart’s secretary was delightful and the best thing about the film. Catherine Zeta-Jones was OK as the disenchanted wife of Mayor Hostetler. Brian Tucker wrote a tired and uninteresting script. Allen Hughes directed this very forgetful film.

Overall: Wouldn’t recommend paying to see this film.

Gangster Squad

First Hit:  Violent and overdone.

This film is loosely based on the take down of Mickey Cohen as the gangster supreme in LA. Cohen (played by Sean Penn) came from the East to run LA for the mob.

The Chicago syndicate is finding Cohen to be unruly and not following their orders. The reality is that Cohen wants it all for himself. At a meeting with a Chicago representative he tells him that he’s old and will not follow Chicago’s rules. The funny thing is that Penn looked older than the guy he was talking to. Then there was Nick Nolte playing Chief Parker and quite frankly they needed to pick someone else.

To rein in Cohen, Parker gives Sargent John O’Mara (played by Josh Brolin) the freedom to pull together other cops who will leave their badges at home and stop Cohen any way they want. Sergeant Jerry Wooters (played by Ryan Gosling) is one of the people he chooses. He’s chosen because he’s smart and has a similar history as O’Mara.

One of the more difficult things is that Wooters has fallen in love with Cohen’s girlfriend Grace Faraday (played by Emma Stone). The film’s plot isn’t that interesting and the amount of overt violence by both the police and Cohen’s crew is uninteresting. Maybe the taking back of LA from Cohen went just as the film suggested, but it is not worth making a film about.

Penn is good at times and overdone at other times as Cohen. This is not his crowning role or film. Nolte is a waste and fully uninteresting as Parker. He didn’t bring anything of value to the role. Gosling is good, has some wonderful touching moments as only he can. Stone is OK as Cohen’s girlfriend but there lacked a depth of history as to how she became his girlfriend in the first place that made the whole thing unrealistic. Will Beall wrote a very mediocre script and Ruben Fleischer’s direction was at the same level.

Overall:  This film is not worth seeing and is forgettable within hours after watching it.

Jack Reacher

First Hit:  Cruise is Cruise which means you always know it is Cruise playing a character and because his presence is generally intense, the film is entertaining.

The film is about a young Iraqi vet who is framed for shooting 5 people on the river bank in Pittsburgh, PA. All the evidence points to him and while he is being interrogated he writes down on a piece of paper, “Get Jack Reacher”. Why?

The DA Rodin (played by Richard Jenkins), the head detective Emerson (played by David Oyelowo) and the defense attorney Helen (played by Rosamund Pike) who is also the DA’s daughter, all think he's guilty and don't understand who Jack Reacher is or why he would know anything about this case. Reacher (Cruise) lives anonymously after leaving the Army. He has no phone, car, or home. He arrives unannounced at the police station.

Helen is curious as to why he’s there and what he can do to assist the case. Reacher is a former Military Policeman and he doesn’t make mistakes. He's there because he’s the best and only the accused knows it. The accused knows that Reacher will find out the real truth. Well as you might imagine he discovers the entire plot which has to do with Russians that take over businesses.

Fairly lame plot, but Cruise surrounds himself with the best and therefore the film works, there are few mistakes so it works, but it isn’t memorable by any stretch of the imagination.

Cruise is perfect at acting this role and we always know it is Tom Cruise. This thought never left me as I watched this film. Jenkins is fine as a powerful, righteous and rich DA. Oyelowo is good as the head cop. Pike is very good as the DA's daughter and as a main character in the film. Werner Herzog is interesting as a one eyed former prisoner named "The Zec". Robert Duvall is amusing as "Cash" a shoot range owner. Christopher McQuarrie wrote and directed this unimpressive but cleanly executed film

Overall:  This is the kind of film one can sit and watch realizing there is nothing of real value but it is entertaining. 

Killing Me Softly

First Hit:  The not so subtle killings, the state of the economy, and a thugs life are oddly displayed here.

Three dumb smart guys think they’ve got a way to crash and rob a mob protected card game of about $30 – $50K. Because Markie (played by Ray Liotta) is hosting the game and it is believed he had previously robbed his own game, the three dumb smart guys Frankie (played by Scott McNairy), Russell (Ben Mendelsohn), and Johnny (Vincent Curatola) think that robbing the game, the mob will think Markie did it again, kill him and they’ll get off scot-free.

At first they think they are in the clear but then the mob catches on. Jackie (played by Brad Pitt) is the lead hit-man for the mob and is assigned to kill the perpetrators of the robbery because these games need to be trouble free and the mob's money protected.

In the background during this film there are multiple snippets of Bush talking about the instability of the economy as well as Obama talking about what he would do to change the economy along with how unprotected our money is.

All this is to give the audience an impression that mob life and their freedom to control the safety and free flowing-ness of their ill begotten money is as sacred and reflects the trouble and required for the safety of our money in the economy. Jackie doesn’t want to “do” all three of the dumb smart guys so he hires Mickey (played by James Gandolfini) who appears to be at the end of his usability. He spends all his time and money drinking any alcohol he can find, screwing as many whores he can hire and is fatalistic in that he thinks his wife is going to leave him and he’ll end up back in prison.

His scenes are strong, very powerful and watchable, but you can’t help but think this guy is on the fast track to death. With this new problem, Jackie also has the issue of working with new mob hierarchy which he requires approval from the mob HQ to make these hits and the price must be negotiated to make each hit. But Jackie being and "in charge guy" takes care of all the problems as quickly as he can.

I’m not really clear about the point of this film, because of the pointed background dialogue about the economy, community, and how hard it is to make changes within the economic community in America and how it is congruent with the difficulty of getting permission and getting the right price for wacking someone who steals from the mob.

It might have been better without this twist. But the tagline was suppose to set the audience free: "In America you're on your own."

Liotta is clearly sufficient as guy who got away with something once but probably should be wacked anyway. McNairy is very good as the guy trying to be a smart dumb guy. Mendelsohn was fantastic as the smart dumb guy who is so stoned but believes he’s got his game together. Pitt is good but he felt restrained in this role for some reason. Gandolfini is fabulous and the hit man who has run his course and running out of gas. Andrew Dominik wrote and directed this film and neither were great, although some of the scenes were shot very well.

Overall:  This was a mediocre film and boarding on being less than mediocre, but the few outstanding performances keep it from totally failing.