Colombiana

One of taglines for this movie : Vengeance Is Beautiful. A young woman has grown up to be an assassin after witnessing the murder of her parents as a child. Turning herself into a professional killer and working for her uncle, she remains focused on her ultimate goal to hunt down and get revenge on the mobster responsible for her parents' death. Yet as the death toll rises as she gets closer, she will learn that he is getting closer too.

Cataleya Restrepo was a young girl in Bogota, Colombia when she escaped the killers who killed her parents and is now a young woman on a personal vendetta to kill all of those involved, but the personal attachments she has formed may stand in the way of revenge. Danny Delanay is an artist who has fallen in love with Catelya but finds it hard to break through the emotional wall she has erected and when he finds out why the wall is there he may regret trying to get through it. Special Agent Ross in an FBI agent who is on the trail of a killer who leaves the calling card of cataleya orchid drawn at the scene of the death, but the closer he gets to finding his killer of killers the more he is blocked from the information he needs to close his case. Don Luis is the Colombian drug lord who gave the order for the death of Cataleya's parents and when he notices that all those involved with that killing are dying he begin to suspect the involvement of the girl who escaped the hit on her parents.

The fact that one of the writers of this film was Luc Besson should give you an idea of the over the top action grounded in reality that you awaits you. The fact that the last movie Olivier Megaton directed was Transporter 3 should inform you that this movie will be an unapologetic piece filled with explosions, bullets and blood. So I am reviewing this movie for the type of movie it is intended to me, not any assumptions on what it should have been or could have been. What you have is a decent action movie that doesn't try to be anything but a solid action flick with the beautiful Zoë Saldana as the lead. It was cool seeing Cliff Curtis as the crazy uncle Emilio Restrepo since his last movie role as Fire Lord Ozai in the forgettable The Last Airbender. This movie gives you what you paid for and that is all you can ask of any movie. I rate this film a Rated T.

Contagion

Dr. Ellis Cheever is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who is working to find a cure for the virus by coordinating the different departments which must work together for the successful generation of vaccine to protect against it. Dr. Erin Mears is an Epidemic Intelligence Service officer who is sent to investigate the spread of the disease and trace back its origin in hopes of figuring out what triggered the creation of virus, in hopes that it was not a man made act of terrorism. Mitch Emhoff is the husband of the first person to die from the virus Beth Emhoff and finds out that though he is not effected he must protect his daughter who may be susceptible while also defending himself as their neighborhood begins to deteriorate. Alan Krumwiede is a blogger who uses his sphere of influence to add to the paranoia and distrust that is spreading across the world due to the general ignorance of how to effectively combat the virus as the death toll rises.

The tagline for this movie: Terror Runs Deep. Arriving at a lake island cabin in the middle of a salt water lake in Louisiana, seven friends prepare for a fun weekend. When one of them is injured during what it believed to be a wake-boarding accident, the party mood evaporates and it becomes a race to get their friend to a hospital on the other side of the lake. What they soon discover is that they are sharks in the waters as they struggle to fend of the flesh eaters, get help and stay alive long enough to reach the safely of the main land.

Sara Powski invites her fellow Tulane undergrads to her family's lake house in the Louisiana Gulf, but the weekend soon turns deadly as she finds her and her friends faced with making life or death decisions in order survive the predators surrounding them. Nick LaDuca is a  pre-med student who id friends with Gordan and for his help tutoring the football star Malik he is invited to  hang with the group for the weekend at the secluded secluded private lake near Lake Pontchartrain. Beth. Blake and Maya complete the group of friends who are ready to experience a weekend of mindless fun, but are faced with the test of trying to survive the most terror filled days of their young lives. Dennis Crim, Red and Sheriff Sabin are the only hope Sara has of saving her friends and herself from the horror they have found themselves in the middle of, but circumstances maybe be working against them as the reason for the threat becomes clearer.

Well  I didn't expect full immersion from the Three Dimensions hinted at in the title of this movie, but when the 3 D was used it was worth the wait. I hope nobody goes to this movie expecting the feel of a modern day Jaws or even the over the top thrill of Deep Blue Sea, because just by seeing the amount of talent culled from ABC Family productions you  should know to set your expectations low. This would have been a great drive-in movie where the film is more an excuse to be somewhere other than home than going somewhere just to see the film. That being said, the movie is a mindless romp like a Syfy channel movie of the week with a cast at the beginning of their careers instead of at the end of their careers. I rate this movie a Rated D.

P.S. If you choose to see this movie, you must stay for the music video 'Sharks Bite' which is shown after the end credits. It is worth watching after the flick you just had to sit through and is guaranteed to at least put a smile on your face. B~)

One of the taglines for this movie: There Are No Clean Getaways. A loner who stunt drivers for movie productions by day and steers getaway cars for armed heists by night soon finds himself drawn to his beautiful neighbor in the apartment next to his. This young mother soon finds herself and her son dragged into the dangerous underworld with the return of her ex-convict husband. When the heist meant to pay off the husband's debts goes wrong, the loner is forced to defend those he cares about the only way he knows how.

Driver is a wheel man who has been collecting money from his legitimate day job and illegal night job with the hopes of gaining financial security that would allow him to become a member of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, but his focus changes due to a chance meeting. Irene is a single mother who becomes the object of affection for Driver, but when her husband Standard returns from prison he brings with him a debt that she and their son Benicio may have t pay with their lives if they are not able to get help.  Shannon owns the garage that Driver works out of and plan on being his partner when they join the NASCAR circuit, but he must first make the hard choice of working with the man who is in business with the man who crippled him. Bernie Rose is the mobster willing to work with Shannon and Driver to buy the race car they need to make their dream a reality but his business associate Nino soon complicates the situation with a bad business decision.

One of the taglines for this film: Everyone Has A Breaking Point. A screenwriter and his actress wife return to her small southern hometown to prepare the home she grew up in for sale after her father's death. Once on the property tensions build in the couple's marriage and old conflicts re-emerge with the locals. The most serious of these conflicts include the actress' ex-boyfriend, former high school football star and present construction worker which leads to a violent confrontation.

David Sumner is Hollywood screenwriter hoping to get some work done on a screenplay while his wife's family home is rebuilt, but soon finds that local towns people unwelcoming and confrontational to his presence in their environment. Amy Sumner is a TV actress who has returned to her hometown of Blackwater Mississippi after the death of her father to rebuild the her dad's home, but she soon finds that readjusting to life there to be complicated when her old boyfriend is hired by her husband to fix up the place. Charlie Venner Amy's former boyfriend who doesn't quite see what makes David so special and with the backing of his friends Norman, Bic and Chris go about tormenting the couple in an escalating series of events. Tom Heddon is the former football coach of the local high school team who has become a drunk and has directed his attention on keeping his daughter Janice from the mentally challenged Jeremy Niles.

One of the taglines for this film: The Fight For The Truth Will Be The Fight Of His Life. When a teen stumbles upon an image of himself as a little boy on a a missing persons website, he soon realizes that his parents are not his own and his life is a lie. As he begins to piece together his true identity, he becomes the target of a team of trained killers, forcing him on the run with the only person he can trust. Every second counts as they race to evade the assassins and the federal operatives hot on their trail, but it soon becomes apparent that to solve the mystery of his past he may have to stop running and take a stand.

Nathan Harper finds a picture of a boy named Steven Price on a missing persons website who looks suspiciously like he did at that age and soon all of his darkest fears are brought to light as he discovers his life has been fabricated to hid a dangerous truth. Karen Murphy is Nathan's neighbor who brings the website to his attention and ends up on the run with him when it becomes clear that the assassins are willing to kill anyone who they see as an obstacle  to capturing the elusive young man. Viktor Kozlow is the man responsible for the attack on Nathan's house that left it destroyed and his fake parents dead, but we soon learn that capturing Nathan may be the first step in a larger plan that may include Nathan's biological father. Fran Burton is a CIA operative looking for Nathan to protect him from Viktor but also to secure use himas a tool to obtaining information from Nathan's father in hopes of controlling the flow of said information.

I really don't want to make anyone feel that this movie is too bad, but it a weak and watered down version of the Bourne Identity. I was expecting more from director John Singleton who made the decision to completely spoil the pace of his own movie to give to audience shots of Taylor Launter. The supporting cast is top notch, but even they could not save a weak script that had more plot holes than actual plot. I is a classic example of a movie that aspires to be more than its lead and production are are able to manage so the finished product falls short.  I am sure this will not effect the teenage girls looking to get their Lautner fix, but I would suggest waiting for the dvd. I rate this a Rated D.

Killer Elite

The tagline for this movie: May The Best Best Man Live. When his mentor is taken captive, a retired member of Britain's Elite Special Air Service is pitted against the cunning field operative of a secret military society. The mission spans the globe as he finds himself plunged into a dangerous game of cat and mouse. As the predators become the prey we learn that there are no accidents.

Danny Bryce is a mercenary who is ready to give up the life of being a gun for hire and settle down to live the quiet life, but when a situation presents itself that he can not ignore he is forced to get his old team together for one last mission. Hunter is Danny's mentor but when he is captured and used as leverage to get Danny's team to carry out the mission he declined he soon realizes that he was part of the plan all along and must help his apprentice in any way possible. Spike Logan is the go to man of The Feather Men, so when members of his regiment start showing up dead due to accidents it becomes his job to figure out exactly what has happened to them and to stop who ever may be involved. Anne Frazier is Danny's girlfriend who he reconnects with after years apart, but she may not be able to handle the world he has left behind when it arrives at her doorstep.

This movie does not have a tagline. A young dolphin is caught in a crab trap which severely damages her tail. She is discovered by a young boy who forms a special bond with her. Her tail is removed at the marine hospital she is transported to and she begins her fight for survival but her prognosis is dire. It will take her will to live, the unwavering devotion of the boy, the expertise of a dedicated marine biologist and the ingenuity of a brilliant prosthetics doctor to bring about a groundbreaking miracle.

Sawyer Nelson is a lonely young boy with no friends and stuck in summer school when he happens upon an injured dolphin that he helps save and later forms a connection with which helps him to grow and mature as a person. Clay Haskett is the marine biologist who runs the Clearwater Marine Hospital and will do anything within his power to keep the animals in his care safe and sound, but with the hospital going under financially he may be forced to find homes for the animals or euthanize them. Dr. Cameron McCarthy works at the local veterans hospital and decides to lend his assistance in finding the solution to the dolphin's missing tail by creating a prosthetic one, but it will only work if they can get the dolphin to actually use the artificial limb. Winter is a Bottlenose dolphin who loses her tail after being entrapped in a crab trap and she must learn to live with a prosthetic appendage or lose her life due to a deforming spine.