Movie Review: Batman Begins

This is a very good new beginning to Batman, with a lot of pre Batman explanation. like how he learned his fighting skills.  He actually trains with a group that is against crime, to the point of taking it into their own hands.  Bruce Wayne has a falling out with them, and returns to Gotham with a new goal and sets himself up as Batman.   But the past haunts him. 

Ducard is the person from the past who helped train Bruce Wayne.  Alfred is the butler and Lucius Fox is Bruce Wayne's inside man at Wayne Enterprises.  Rachel Dawes is a district attorney and Bruce Wayne's friend from growing up years.  Jim Gordon is a police officer and becomes Batman's liaison.  And Dr. Jonathan Crane is with the gangs and also working for Ducard and his group.  He is the mask man who uses a toxin to make people hallucinate and thereby he gets them off on insanity pleas.  

The gangs have been smuggling the toxin in for sometime, and putting it in the water supply.  They have stolen a water vaporizer and plan to vaporize the toxin in the air and release the poison toxin into the air.  This will create paranoid people killing each other and Gotham will destroy itself.  Only Batman, and Gordon can turn the tide.  

Batman vs Ducard makes very good conflict.  A cute side bar is the president at Wayne enterprises and Lucius Fox.  When Fox becomes the president he asks the former president, "Didn't you get the memo?"

• 

  Christian Bale

  Bruce Wayne

  /Batman
• 

  Michael Caine

  Alfred
• 

  Liam Neeson

  Ducard
• 

  Katie Holmes

  Rachel Dawes
• 

  Gary Oldman

  Jim Gordon
• 

  Cillian Murphy

  Dr. Jonathan Crane
• 

  Morgan Freeman Lucius Fox  

  
  

The Marksman (2021)

 The Marksmen, Jim (Liam Neeson) falls into the crosshairs of the Mexican cartel.  They are after a mother (Teresa Ruiz) and son, Miguel (Jacob Perez) who have just crossed the border.  The cartel already killed the uncle.  In the firefight over the border the mother is shot, and the Jim agrees to take the boy to Chicago.  The mother passes away.  Jim decides to actually take the boy when he realizes the cartel is not stopping at the border.  At first he takes the boy for the bag of money the mother had.  But his attitude changes over time.  

Jims daughter, Sarah (Katheryn Winnick), works for the border patrol, and tries to keep track of him as he travels north.  But it is hard as they are on different sides of the law, and who knows who will take money from the cartel.  

The cartel has good technology.  They track his credit card usage as they follow him north.  They also buy people as they go, including a police officer who pulls them over.  With the dog's help they are able to get away, and then the cartel kills the officer.  

Eventually they get to the final show down, the Marine with his gun, and the cartel members with theirs.

Vewry tenseful movie.  The burning of the bag of money shows they have created a relationship.  

Movie Review: ****Retribution (2023)

 This is a Liam Neeson movie which I watched through a streaming service.  Neeson plays a bank executive who is being black mailed by a bomb placed under his seat into releasing money from the bank.  His children (Lilly Aspell and Jack Champion) are in the car with him.  At the same time he is set up as the perpetrator of several murders.  The police (Noma Dumezweni) are after him as he keeps getting away, and finally meets up with his boss (Matthew Modine), who he also appears to murder.  However all is not as it appears.  Very good Liam Neeson action movie.

At the Movies: *^The Naked Gun (2025)

 This movie missed with me.  I saw it at the theater a couple months ago.  The only gag was when the officers were paying homage to their parents, and the man couldn't pay homage to O.J. Simpson.  That was just too much for him.  And when Neeson says take a chair, so she takes a chair home with her.  Sometimes comedy just doesn't hit for everyone.

In Theaters: ****Men in Black International (2019)

****Men in Black International (2019)  this is a fun movie.  Agent M (Tessa Thompson) has been looking for MIB her entire life, since the memory of her parents was erased after an event.  When she finds them she is in for more than she bargains.  She convinces the head of recruitment, Agent O (Emma Thompson) to give her a chance.  Although in training, she latches onto Agent H (Chris Hemsworth).  Agent H is notable because he saved the universe a few years before with Agent High T (Liam Neeson), who is the director of the British office.  There is a weapon of unlimited potential.  Agent H,  Agent O and Pawny (Kumail Nanjiani), who has sworn allegiance to Agent O after his own queen had been killed, are sworn to guard the weapon.  Of course there are some evil aliens out to get the weapon for the Hoard, who want to conquer the universe.  I had a good time with this movie.  Lots of tricky devices, and lots of fun. 

Movie Review: Star Wars: Episode 1: The Phantom Menace

In my opinion, the prequel trilogy is not near as good as the three originally made.  That being said, The Phantom Menace has lots going for it.  In this series, we are introduced to a whole new cast of characters,  The holdouts are Darth Sidious/Senator Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid), Obi Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Anakin Skywalker; later Darth Vader (Jake Lloyd) as a boy; and then Yoda (Frank Oz) in a smaller roll.  Two Jedi, Obi Wan and his master, Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neesom) head to a planet to help with negotiations, and land in the middle of a droid army invasion.  Queen Amidala (Natalie Portman) is able to escape with the Jedi.  They end up stranded on Tatooine, the Luke Skywalker planet.  Her they meet Anakin and his mother Shmi (Pernilla August).  they are both slaves.  However Anakin has a skill which leads to his freedom, and the Jedi being able to repair their ship.  This is a racing sport, unlike any we have seen, as big chariots, pulled by two engines each, race around the sand dunes.  This race is very dangerous.  To this cast of characters, we add Darth Maul (Ray Park), a Sith Lord.  He challenges the Jedi on a couple of occasions, and Tatooine, and then back on Naboo.  There are two people that live on Naboo.  Queen Amidala only represents half.  In the ocean lives another sentient culture, and it is only with their aide, that the people of Naboo can defeat the droids.  Both peoples must overcome pride to except help from the other.  Jar Jar Binks (Ahmed Best) befriends the Jedi, but is not on good terms with his own people due to his clumsiness.  All tis leads to a classic battle involving Anakin, the Jedi against Darth Maul, and the people of Naboo against the droid army. 
This is a very creative film.  Especially with the sand  racers.  Star Wars keeps introducing us to new worlds and situations, and is always a good ride. 

Movie Review: Les Miserables (1998)

This is a fascinating version of Les Miserables starring Liam Neeson as Jean Valjean.  This version is not a musical.  Geoffrey Rush portrays Javert, and makes an interesting contrast; strength against finesse.  However Valjean proves he is a changed man, when he exposes himself to save a man he didn't know.  Cosette is also well done as played by Claire Danes.  It is interesting the way Valjean confesses his past to her.  Fantine is portrayed by Uma Thurman, and the scenes where she is hallucinating of her daughter, and passing away are very nice.  Peter Vaughn portrays the bishop who sets Valjean on a righteous path.  This story is very poignant, and this version does it justice.

Movie Review: ****^A Monster Calls

Conor's (Lewis MacDougall) parents are divorced.  His father (Toby Kebbell) lives in Los Angeles with a new wife and child.  Conor lives with his mother in England.  His Mum (Felicity Jones) has cancer, leaving Conor to clean up and raise himself.  He calls the monster (voiced by Liam Neeson) in his dreams.  Conor is forced to move in with his grandmother (Sijourney Weaver) who he doesn't particularly care for.  Conor's dream is about falling into a hole in the earth.  It is a recurrent nightmare.  Conor thinks the monster has come to heal his mother.  The monster all along says he has come to heal Conor.
This is a must see movie.  It delves into cancer like nothing else I have seen.  It also deals with fantasy and nightmares.

Movie Review: ***Seraphim Falls (2006)

This movie stars Pierce Brosnan as Gideon and Liam Neeson as Carver.  Carver holds a grudge against Gideon as the result of a decision he made during the Civil War, in which he had the barn of Carver burned.  The fire got out of control, and jumped to the house, where the baby was sleeping.  Carver's baby perishes, as does his wife and another child as they try to rescue the baby.  Carvers determination to get even is what drives this movie.
The movie starts in the beautiful Ruby Mountains of Nevada.  The sneak attack Gideon, but although wounded he gets away.  He uses a water fall and heavy river to assist him in his get away.  (I don't know of so much water in the Ruby Mountains, except perhaps in the spring.  They eventually get to the Nevada deserts, as they travel towards Carson City.
Gideon is quite the warrior, and is known for killing people with his knife.  Carver is bent on gaining his revenge.  This movie heads to a show down--which does not end how you think it will end.

Movie Review: ***^Taken 3 (2014)

This is the third installment of the Taken series.  This time the plot is a bit different.  Instead of someone being taken like the first two films, in this it becomes personal as Bryan Mills' (Liam Neeson) ex-wife (Famke Janssen) is killed and Mills is framed.  In this movie there is much violence and vehicles crashing.  Much of the violence is aimed at the police.  Which makes the final result a bit confusing.  Liam must stay free in order to solve this crime, and the police of course want to bring him in as he is their prime suspect.
I was confused with one aspect of the plot.  His daughter (Maggie Grace) is kidnapped at the end, however I am not sure of the motivation; except that maybe the murderer kidnapper is working for someone.  Anyway, when everything gets resolved, Mills is given a walk.  There is no repercussion from the police after Mills caused multiple accidents, many involving police officers, and assaulted officers on several occasions.

Movie Review: ***Taken II

This is the sequel to Taken, and is just as tense and exciting.  In this movie, we have the father of one of those killed, and criminal boss of the Albanian mafia coming after Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) and his family.  They are on vacation in Turkey when they make their move, and they are successful in kidnapping Mills and his wife (Famke Janssen).  However the miss his daughter (Maggie Grace) who is left with the responsibility of rescuing her father, who rescued her in the first movie.  Mills had studied where they were taken, and is able to direct his daughter to bring him a gun.  And from there the hunted becomes the hunter.  He offers a truce to the father, in hopes that their can be peace between their families.
This movie has plenty of violence and death, but it is an exciting ride. 

Movie Review: ***^The Lego Movie

  This movie has many parallels, parallel universes with different types of Lego worlds, such as Western, under water, in the clouds, Star Wars etc.  And in the end a parallel between the Legos and the humans playing with them.  There has been much talk about this being an anti corporation movie, but I didn't see it.  It is more a movie of finding what your niche is, and then doing the best you can in that niche, even if the niche is being normal, regular.  With regards to the double theme presented by the father and his son; and Emmet versus Lord Business the father is gluing his Lego set together so his son can’t mess it up; but in the end he changes, he repents and invites son to play, and his daughter.  In the same manner Lord Business wants to glue everything so it is in the perfect position.  He also changes, when he realizes people can like him for who he is.  There is another theme I find in the movie.  Sometimes we can be lolled into complacency, letting others take our rights away in the name of change and making things better, until it is too late, we have be rocked to sleep until the day when it is too late.  In the movie this was done by manuals, songs and control of the media. 

However the song is fun: Everything is awesome
Everything is cool when you're part of a team
Everything is awesome, when we're living our dream

Tony and I came home from the movie singing the first two lines of the song.  Tony gives the movie a big thumbs up by the way.  I had a hard time dealing with everyone and everything looking like a Lego.

Emmet voiced by Chris Pratt

Lord Business and father by Will Ferrell

Wyldestyle by Elizabeth Banks

Vitruvius by Morgan Freeman

Bad Cop/ Good Cop by Liam Neeson

Movie Review: ****Taken

This movie grabs you and takes you in.  Kim (Maggie Grace) is 17 and headed to Paris with a friend.  Her father, Bryan Mills (Liam Neeson) has reservations, but signs off on letting her go, reluctantly.  She and her friend are kidnapped by Albanian sex trade criminals.  In the process of being kidnapped, she is on the phone with her father, who is an ex CIA man with a special set of skills.  After the daughter is taken, he talks to the man on the phone, "Bryan Mills: I don't know who you are. I don't know what you want. If you're looking for ransom, I can tell you I don't have money but what I do have are a very particular set of skills. Skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you. If you let my daughter go now, that will be the end of it. I will not look for you, I will not pursue you. But if you don't, I will look for you, I will find you and I will kill you."  This leads to a very violent search for his daughter.  He first meets the front man at the airport, who runs away and gets hit by a car.  He then goes to the sex scenes, the first where his daughter was, but is no longer there.  He leaves death destruction and mayhem.  He gets a clue that leads him to the next the next sight, where he finds Marko, the man on the phone.  he again leaves death and destruction.  He tortures Marko, and gets a name where they sold his daughter, to a special slave trade.  He gets more information from his Paris police friend, reluctantly (he has to shot his wife to get him to help--a flesh wound).  This leads him to an upper end auction, which he crashes, but gets caught.  He is cuffed to a pipe.  The boss says to kill him quietly.  He is able to break the pipe, turn the tables, more death and mayhem; and after shooting the boss, gets him to tell where the customer is who bought his daughter.  He then dispatches the boss.  He is next on the yacht, more destruction and mayhem and death, and he is reunited with his daughter.  This movie is a good ride.  It is violent, not appropriate for children.

Movie Review: ***Unknown

*** "Unknown" starred Liam Neeson and he carried the film.  He has a way about expressing trouble and confusion.  He was in an accident, and in a comma, and when coming out remembers his name and wife, except she has another husband.  I remember thinking this might be another Bourne Identity about half-way through the movie, and then forgetting about this.  However that is what it ends up being.  The action is great, and the explosion is shocking.