What was that 2022-released movie about some terrifying, highly intelligent entity that identified and hunted its targets in a way that was anything but human? It might have been called Prey. Wait, maybe it was called Beast. Correct. Both movies (each with an equally unmemorable name) revolved loosely around the same premise. The studios of each movie didn’t do each other any favors with what they could have done, if anything, with the release date. Each film is worth a watch, though I wonder if a home viewing would translate to the enjoyment of a theater viewing. Each was designed to be seen on the largest screen possible.
Category Archives: Idris Elba
Avengers: Infinity War (2018)
Why did the Mad Titan Thanos (Josh Brolin – W., Sicario) need to grab hold of the power of the six Infinity Stones to destroy the universe? I think it’s important to understand what causes a villain to do certain actions rather than just to have a bad guy. The stronger the villain’s arc and the more we sympathize with them on any level, the more we understand and appreciate the underlying of who they are. In Avengers: Infinity War (directed by Anthony Russo and Joe Russo), we have a powerful bad guy motivated by a tortured past and willing to destroy all the good guys in the universe to atone for it. After the planet Titan is no longer inhabited, he is not allowed to prevent things from destroying it; he thinks he will prevent it. Instead, he lost his planet and everyone on it. Vowing not to let something like that happen again, he makes it his mission to balance the universe by completely wiping out half of it. But to do so, he’ll need all six of the Infinity Stones that will power his Infinity Gauntlet, allowing him to bend time, space, energy, and the laws of physics and reality.
Molly’s Game (2017)
I’ve mentioned many times that I am so glad I am not addicted to gambling. I have other vices, and the added temptation of a big payday by sacrificing my own hard-earned money with less than successful odds sounds absolutely miserable.
In Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, he tells the story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain – A Most Violent Year, Take Shelter), an Olympic level skier who once ran one of the most exclusive high-stakes poker games for more than a decade, two years before her arrest that saw FBI agents surrounding her house with automatic guns in the middle of the night. It’s a legitimate directorial debut and one that is worthy of its high praise. But despite how well made the movie is, I believe it to be a much more enjoyable and educational film if you are familiar with poker. I have no idea how to play the game, so while I was fascinated by the movie, there were definitely many parts where I felt like the odd one sitting around a kitchen table because there were many terms thrown around that I did not understand as well as actions, motives, dialogue, and even purposes that felt very foreign to me. As a result, the movie didn’t hook me like it did many of the other films that Sorkin also wrote (The Social Network, Moneyball, Steve Jobs, Charlie Wilson’s War, not to mention his credits as a lead writer on television’s The West Wing and Newsroom). That’s not to say Sorkin should stick to screenwriting. He absolutely should not. It’s just that I will look forward to seeing him direct a movie revolving around a different theme in the future rather than revisiting Molly’s Game, a film that, frankly, will be one that I will forever forget about soon after I write this review.
Takers (2010)
Takers, John Luessenhop’s first attempt at a big-budget movie, falls flat on its face before it ever gets going. Takers is an entirely unoriginal, formulaic, good guys versus bad guys movie. It’s one of those movies where the trailer tells a better story than the actual film. With a cast that includes Matt Dillon (There’s Something About Mary, Wild Things), Idris Elba (HBO’s The Wire, Obsessed), Paul Walker (Joy Ride, Running Scared), T.I. (American Gangster, ATL), Hayden Christensen (Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Jumper), and Jay Hernandez (Friday Night Lights, Hostel), among others, I thought that at least I’d be entertained with the acting. Heck, the R&B singer Chris Brown was even in this movie.