This one's From the other head honcho here at guns drugs and suits and here is his review of Shoot em Up

Shoot ‘Em Up

-Starring: Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti, and Monica Bellucci

-Rating – R

-Director – Michael Davis

This new Clive Owen feature has him pulling ridiculous stunts and has overthetop gunfights. He stars as Mr.Smith, a loner who jumps into this infant’s life for no apparent raisin. The child is being hunted down by Paul Giamatti and innumerable henchmen. For quite a while we are left into the dark as to what the deal is, but eventually you get filled in.

Mr.Smith plays the cliched guy who is a cold-blooded killer but also has a soft spot. This can be forgiven for throughout the movie you get non-stop, almost cartoon like, action. Smith’s affinity for carrots is reminiscent of Bugs Bunny, making Hertz (Giamatti) Elmer Fudd. This is what people go to see the movie for. If you want to go see a movie with thick plot or a realistic drama, this picture is not for you. This movie is chalked full of bullet dodging gunfights, most in which Smith is carrying a baby with him or while having sex.

The movie starts out with Smith sitting at a bus stop, chewing his carrot, when a pregnant woman runs past while being chased by this man. One thing leads to another, a gunfight ensues, a baby is born and a woman’s life is lost. The rest of the movie Smith does the best as a guy who doesn’t know shit about babies can to help out this baby. This brings him to a whorehouse where we meet Monica Bellucci’s character. At first Smith comes to her solely because she can care/feed for the baby (long story). Anyway, it turns out somewhat predictably that they had a little history and something was bubbling beneath the surface.

In the end I can’t really ignore the weak plot, but the action sequences really do it for me. For acting I give it 4 outa 5 stars, Owen and Giamatti do extremely well while Bellucci is just kinda there because they needed a woman in the movie. Plot, 2.5 stars, this movie wasn’t really aiming for any nominations. And finally for direction, I give it a 4, Davis really made this look like the cool and slick action movie that it is. In the end that comes to a 3.5 outa 5.

More Coming

Got a review of Shoot em up, the two new episodes of Sunny in Philadelphia that aired tonight and our impressions on the Chuck Pilot

310 To Yuma review

3:10 Yuma Movie Review

310 to Yuma is the newest movie from James Mangold(Walk the line, Identity) and starring Christian Bale and Russel Crowe.
The story is that Christian Bale's Character Dan Evans is a civil war veteran with a bad leg deep in debt because of an extended drought in his farmland. Evans first meets Russel Crowe's character Ben Wade after Evans witnesses Wade rob a wagon and the first gunfight in the movie is shown. They confront each other and both end up in the same town again. Wade is caught by the sheriff, and a team is assembled to bring Wade to the train that takes him to Yuma the prison in the area to be hung. Evans goes along because he is being paid 200$ and he was the best shot in his unit. They encounter people along the way who want Wade dead along with the constant fear that Wade's gang will arrive to take him back.
310 to Yuma is a remake of a 1957 movie of the same name, and based on a short story by Elmore Leonard. The acting is top of the line as to be expected by the big names Bale and Crowe and for the most part they move the story along as best as they can. No real problems with the acting and there are small parts for Luke Wilson and Alan Tudyk with Tudyk providing some small comic relief as a vet who goes along with the crew.
The movie looks good with some impressive action sequences in between a whole lot of unneeded side stories. The gunfights are very drawn out and in some parts exciting but also somewhat improbable considering the time the story took place in. Mangold seems to get the best out of his directors here except for Ben Foster who plays the one of the people in Wade's gang who in my opinion seemed a little too close to Wade, and was just awkward overall.
My main problem with the movie was that some parts of the movie were too realistic and others were just far fetched as hell. The whole movie was leading up to a firefight on the way to the train station that was almost insane. Evans and Wade end up running half a mile to a train station while every person in the town is shooting at them. They seem to have terrible aim and I just thought it played out like every crappy action movie that shows the main character escaping enormous amounts of gunfire. The ending is very weak and just seemed to tie together really hastily and shakily.
Overall the movie feels very long at the times when guns aren't going off with unnecessary extra subplots and some very boring sequences between Evans and his teenage son who I absolutely despised in this movie. His son pulls the whole I am coming with you crap and it just added nothing to the story.
I enjoyed some of the movie but most of the movie switched between boring and ridiculous and despite some good acting I was not impressed with 310 to Yuma.
Score: 6.0/10