The Maze Runner

The Maze Runner

Rating 5 out of 10

We all know these trilogies are popular right now.  Mostly for the younger crowd.  Started with Twilight.  Then Hunger Games and Divergent earlier this year.  The latest movie made from a trilogy of books is The Maze Runner.  I think I've had enough.  Agreed I'm not in the age demo they are aiming for and maybe the books are great.  I just have a problem with movies that the whole nearly two hours of film stock is dedicated to setting up movies number II and III,

The movie starts with a young man being sent up in a outdoor elevator looking thing and shoved into a big open field that turns out has huge 100+ foot concrete walls surrounding them. His memory is lost.  That happens to everyone he quickly finds out.  Soon he remembers his name is Thomas.  He quickly joins in with the eighty or so other guys that have been there up to 3-4 years.  A new guy shows every month with more supplies.  From where no one knows.

Every morning the big walls open and there is a maze out there.  A group of runners run the maze every day trying to figure out a way out.  You have to be careful not to be caught out there after dark when the walls close and these big mechanical spider looking things show up and like to pull arms off of young men.  If you thought the Hunger Games was too violent with young folks you want to stay away from this one.

Thomas right off the bat decides his mission in life is to find a way out while some in the group worry that his attempts will create harsh treatment by those who supply the goods. I can't say much more without giving spoilers although even at the end of the movie I was scratching my head trying to figure out what in the hell was going on.

I'm guessing if you have read the books you would like this movie more than I did.  I thought it was well acted and had some good action.  It was just too confusing as to what was really happening and why.  Even when they explained what was going on it didn't completely make sense.  I guess you have to watch II and III which I feel sure will be coming in the next two years.  I doubt I'll give it a run.

The Equalizer

The Equalizer

Rating 8.5 out of 10

There are a few actors that when one of their movies come out I will go see it trailer unwatched.  Denzel Washington is one of those actors.  He always gives you a good performance as he does here in this movie.

This is one of those movies that if you watch the trailer and it looks like a movie you would like chances are very good you will like it.  Alot.  If it looks like it has too much action, fighting and blood you should probably skip it.  I liked the trailer and loved the movie.

This movie is loosely based on a 80's tv show that instead of Denzel you got an older grey headed English man that would find people in need and dispense justice to bad men.  Here Denzel plays Robert McCall.  He is a mid level manager at a Home Depot type store with a crazy past.  He lives alone and has trouble sleeping at night.  In the early morning hours he walks to the local diner and reads books.  He befriends a young Russian call girl who always seems to be in the diner.  When her mean Russian pimp beats her bad enough to put her in the hospital Robert becomes the Equalizer.  He ends up taking on the Russian mafia and means business.

The acting is good all the way around.  The bad guys are really bad without going comically over the top.  Chloe Grace Moretz shows she is getting some acting chops beyond the movie Kick Ass.  As I said if you like this type of movie you will leave the theater happy.  I know I did.

A Walk Among the Tombstones

A Walk Among the Tombstones

Rating 6 out of 10

I thought this movie looked interesting when I saw the trailer and how can you go wrong with Liam Neeson?  I did not know this at the time this movie is based on a series of books.  Neeson plays ex-NY cop turned private eye.  He's not licensed so he takes the jobs no one else wants.

He is called in by a drug dealer who when he paid the ransom on his kidnapped wife the REALLY bad guys killed her anyway.  He wants his own kind of justice.  Turns out the bad guys are targeting family members of drug dealers.  You know the bad guys are pretty sick when you feel sorry for drug dealers.

This sounds like a pretty high impact action movie you have come to expect from Neeson.  It's not.  This is a slow plodding movie with little action.  Out of the nearly two hour running time probably 30% is of Neeson walking from place to place.

The movie is also very brutal in a nasty twisted torturing women sort of way.  It creeped me out in parts.  They don't show the brutality, but it's implied enough to make your skin crawl.

I was mildly entertained yet could not recommend this movie.  I expected it to be better.