The Rock

San Andreas

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: San Andreas
  • IMDb: link

San AndreasIt’s hard to make either a great or truly awful disaster movie. Even setting out to craft memorable disaster porn (unless it’s centered around a completely ridiculous premise like sending oil riggers into space) is a challenge. Bucking the trend of world-ending disaster films where characters are fighting asteroids, a new Ice Age, or the core of the Earth disrupting all life on the planet, San Andreas is a bit of a throwback focusing just on California, and, for the most part, San Fransisco. A more localized disaster doesn’t have the doomsday cache of something like 2012 but San Andreas turns out to be a far better film.

Our main characters are fire and rescue expert Ray (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson), his estranged wife Emma (Carla Gugino), and their college-age daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario) who are separated when California begins experiencing a series of increasingly harsh earthquakes and spend the film working back to each other as, once again, a huge disaster seems to magically fix all relationship issues over two hours. Disaster couples counseling has been used so often in movies it has become its own cliche.

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Top Ten Memorial Day Box Office Movies

/ / Top Tens & Lists

Top Ten Memorial Day Box Office Movies

Until recently with big-budget super-hero films opening in late March and April, Memorial Day weekend has long been the unofficial beginning of the summer movie season. When you take a look at the top ten box office movies over Memorial Day weekend what you find is a collection of sadly mediocre, and downright awful, films. Seven of the top ten are sequels. Of the six I’ve written full reviews for only two have received a passing rating. Memorial Day may begin the summer movie season, but, as these ten movies show, it’s far from the best summer blockbusters have to offer.

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Furious 7

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Furious 7
  • IMDb: link

“Cars don’t fly.”

Furious 7The latest entry is neither the best (Fast Five) nor the worst (2 Fast 2 Furious) of the franchise. Taking place after the events of Fast & Furious 6, Furious 7 introduces Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) as the brother of Owen Shaw (Luke Evans), who the team took down in the last movie, and the man responsible for killing Han (Sung Kang) in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Now Shaw is targeting Hobbs (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson) and every member of Dominic Toretto‘s (Vin Diesel) team.

Despite Paul Walker‘s death during filming, Brian O’Conner‘s role in the film isn’t truncated thanks to the use of CGI and a little trick photography involving his two brothers. The film ends with a nice farewell for its fallen star although, despite discussion of making more Fast & Furious films, the character isn’t killed off on-screen making you wonder what kind of role Brian could possibly play going forward.

As with all the previous movies, the strengths of the latest film are its stunts which get larger and more ridiculous. Like the last film, this one stretches all credibility during its climax.

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Hercules

/ / Movie Reviews
  • Title: Hercules (2014)
  • IMDb: link

HerculesBased on the comic book mini-series from writer Steve Moore and artist Admira Wijaya, Hercules removes the myth and legend of the figure choosing to cast Hercules (Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson) as a weary nomadic mercenary rather than the true son of Zeus (although he certainly trades on the legend for his own profit) well after completing his legendary 12 labors. With a band of loyal warriors around him, Hercules’ legend has grown over time as his exploits have been exaggerated to the point that everyone believes the mythic warrior to be the unstoppable son of a god.

Director Brett Ratner‘s film reminds me a little of Antoine Fuqua‘s King Arthur which similarly removed the mythical trappings and magic surrounding a legendary figure in an attempt to focus on the man behind the legend and those closest to him. Hercules may not be as successful as Arthur, but The Rock is perfectly cast in the role and Ratner surrounds him with a strong supporting cast and impressive effects for a B-movie that’s better than expected.

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2004 – Walking Tall

/ / Home Video
  • Title: Walking Tall (2004)
  • IMDB: link

Walking TallOn this date ten years ago Dwayne “It’s Okay to Call Me The Rock Again” Johnson‘s remake of 1973’s Walking Tall hit theaters. Loosely based on real events, the simple premise finds war hero Chris Vaughn (The Rock) return home to find his home town at the mercy of an unscrupulous businessman (Neal McDonough) and old high school rival who keeps a stranglehold on the small Washington town with a shady business dealings and rigged casino.

Discovering the man’s total disrespect for the law, and after being assaulted and almost killed by the man’s hired thugs, Vaughn finds no help from the local police which causes the former Army Special Forces ass-kicker to bust-up the casino with only his fists and a two-by-four before running for office on the platform of cleaning up the town.

Along for the ride the film casts Johnny Knoxville in the role of comic relief as Vaughn’s idiot best-friend and Ashley Scott as a childhood friend turned stripper turned love interest.

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