Movie Review: London Has Fallen (2016)

London Has Fallen (2016)
Rating: R (for strong violence and language throughout)

Genre: Action & Adventure
Directed By: Babak Najafi
Written By: Creighton Rothenberger, Katrin Benedikt, Chad St. John,Christian Gudegast
Mar 4, 2016
Runtime: 1 hr. 40 min.

Focus Features - Official Site

The sequel to the worldwide smash hit "Olympus Has Fallen." The story begins in London, where the British Prime Minister has passed away under mysterious circumstances. His funeral is a must-attend event for leaders of the western world. However, what starts out as the most protected event on Earth turns into a deadly plot to kill the world's most powerful leaders, devastate every known landmark in the British capital, and unleash a terrifying vision of the future. Only three people have any hope of stopping it: the President of the United States (Aaron Eckhart), his formidable Secret Service head (Gerard Butler), and an English MI-6 agent who rightly trusts no one. (C) Focus

London Has Fallen is like, and also not like, its predecessor. It is action filled and still packs that strong emotional punch that made Olympus Has Fallen a success. But our hero, Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) has changed. He is more super-assassin than Secret Service dude. And he has more bad-ass one liners which gave the movie a Die Hard feel.

It was cliche, especially the first 15 minutes which had my eyes rolling at the cheesiness, it was loud and bloody, but it was entertaining and that's what matters to me. London Has Fallen has more heart-stopping (Or as my 20 year old daughter said "Oh, S***") moments and savage dispatching of the bad guys. If you enjoyed the trailer, then you will enjoy the movie.

3.75 "Coming out of the closet" Sheep

SharonS

Movie Review: I, Frankenstein

I, Frankenstein
PG-13, 1 hr. 40 min.
Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Science Fiction & Fantasy
Directed By: Stuart Beattie
Written By: Kevin Grevioux, Stuart Beattie
In Theaters: Jan 24, 2014 Wide
Lionsgate Films - Official Site
Aaron Eckhart - Adam
Yvonne Strahovski -Terra
Miranda Otto - Leonore
Bill Nighy - Naberius
Jai Courtney - Gideon
Socratis Otto - Zuriel
Set in a dystopic present where vigilant gargoyles and ferocious demons rage in a battle for ultimate power, Victor Frankenstein's creation Adam (Aaron Eckhart) finds himself caught in the middle as both sides race to discover the secret to his immortality. From the creators of the hit supernatural saga, UNDERWORLD, comes the action thriller I, FRANKENSTEIN, written for the screen and directed by Stuart Beattie based on the graphic novel "I, Frankenstein" by Kevin Grevioux.

The movie came out a week ago and I hadn't heard one thing about it. I didn't know if this was a good thing or not. Maybe because it needs two ratings. One for the visual satisfaction and one for writing. I, Frankenstein gets a 4/2 split. Whether or not you will enjoy this film depends on what is more important to you. My husband loved the movie because it was pure entertainment with explosions, flying gargoyles and general bad assery. I loved the movie for the same reasons, but if you like to scratch even the tiniest bit of sense from the story then you might want to skip this one. If you like poking fun at bad scripts then this is a must see! 

The movie is based on a graphic novel, and they captured that feel perfectly, but what didn't translate was the story. It might have been better to just have the original graphic novel script used as subtitles; kind of like a live action comic. It was so bad…just so, so, so bad <G>. 

Before and after

before

after

I loved the gargoyles! They were the good guys and it was cool how they morphed from ugly gargoyle to human form…hubba hubba. Aaron Eckhart isn’t an acting genius and probably should have stuck to grunting, but he made a sexy monster once he got a haircut. I’m not just picking on him, no one in the movie will win any acting awards. But I just love Bill Nighy and his cocked eye brow…reminds me of Vincent Price for some reason.

my kind of monster!

The only special effect that left me scratching my head were the demons. They looked ridiculous. The art rendering looks great, but on screen they looked like business men in stiff, cheap Halloween masks. 

Bad ass vs WTF?

A well written movie is just as good on TV as it is on the big screen, but from a visual perspective, like this one, some are best seen at the theater. Should you see it? Depends on what you are looking for. If you can catch this at a second run theater for a few bucks then do! It is put together like one big action movie trailer with a few extra lines thrown in. Check out the trailer below. It gives me goosebumps every time I see it!

4/2 “descending in pain” Sheep

SharonS

Battle: Los Angeles--a double review

***Richard and I teamed up on this one, we did not see the movie together nor did we tell one another what we thought before we wrote our reviews. Some very similar feelings on this one, kind of cool :).***

I won't lie, the only reason why I went to see Battle:LA was because I couldn't understand why Aaron Eckhart would sign onto a War of the Worlds/Independence Day wanna be movie! Obviously, with an attitude like that, my expectations were set pretty low.

The plot follows the same recipe that both War of the Worlds and Independence Day follow; so don't expect a huge surprise there: Technologically advanced aliens land and wreak havoc until we earthlings figure out their achilles heel. The major events of the movie play out in a very predictable way, punctuated by extremely blatant placement… someone paid a LOT of money to have their gadgets featured…

whoa… ok. Let me take a step back. I seem to be getting a little too negative here… because I actually liked the film.

The special effects and CG were very impressive. You could tell that a lot of thought went into the design of the aliens and their technology. I like that the aliens actually fired ballistic weapons instead of ultra high-tech energy weapons. The action in the movie was intense and punctuated by suspenseful, awkward moments of calm. If a firefight were to take place between marines and an alien force through Pasadena, I believe it'd go down just like it's portrayed in the movie.

Bottom line? Go see it for its special effects and action. It totally delivers. (and um, Michelle Rodriguez? I love you!!)

I'm giving this movie 3.5 sheep.

RL

Battle: Los Angeles directed by Jonathan Liebesman stars Aaron Eckhart, Ramon Rodriguez, Ne-Yo, Bridget Moynahan, Noel Fisher and Michelle Rodriguez. This movie kind of felt like a mix of War of the Worlds, Independence Day, Black Hawk Down and District 9. But if you liked any or all of those then you will enjoy this film. :)

The plot is a pretty simple and direct one; Aliens come to take over the earth. The trailers do a pretty decent job showing what is to be expected. Loads of battle action and CGI litter the screen as to be expected in this type of film. The Marines are the men at the front lines fighting back the enemy and trying to keep the civilians alive. You definitely leave this move feeling USA pride and even more respect for our military. Hoo-Rah!

On the acting note, Aaron Eckhart does quiet a bit of over acting throughout the film, I do like him just wish he knew when to pull back on the over the top emotionally lame scenes. Aside from that no one really stands out but kind of blends in as all the same. Overall I enjoyed the film for what it was but as for bringing something new and different it did not deliver that.

Getting 3 and 1/2 water guzzling sheep.

KD