Lucky # Slevin

Title: Lucky # Slevin

Starring Actor(s)/Actress(es): Josh Hartnett, Bruce Willis, Lucy Liu, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley

Genre: Action/Drama

Status: Out on DVD/Video

Plot Summary: After arriving in his friend’s apartment, Slevin (Hartnett) is approached by the goons of New York’s biggest mob bosses. Now he has to do jobs for The Boss (Freeman) and The Rabbi (Kingsley) while avoiding a man known only as Mr. Smith (Willis) to him and trying not to die.

Review: This one was pretty cool. I wasn’t really even sure what it was about until I started it, but I’m glad I saw it. It has some nice action, a really well-written storyline and the plot twists at the end are great. I would say this is a general action movie, not so much drama. There really wasn’t anything I found wrong with this movie, but it wasn’t the best thing I’ve ever seen. I’d recommend it to the action buffs that I know, but that’s about it.

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The Illusionist

Title: The Illusionist

Starring Actor(s)/Actress(es): Edward Norton, Paul Giamatti, Jessica Biel, Rufus Sewell

Genre: Drama/Mystery

Status: Out on DVD/Video

Plot Summary: In 19th-century Vienna, a new illusionist, Eisenhiem (Norton), has arrived to entertain. He also has come for his childhood love, Sophie (Biel), who happens to be the Crown Prince’s (Sewell) bride-to-be. When strange events start to unfold, Chief Inspector Uhl (Giamatti) is caught up in the investigation of, what seems to be, a simple murder. But it happens to be much more complicated than that.

Review: Wow. It’s really the only word I can say about how I feel after seeing this one. Though it builds a little slow, the ending is definitely worth the wait. I hadn’t really heard anything of the movie, other than a few previews and the case glaring at me at work (I work where there are movies). It looked intriguing and it absolutely went above and beyond what I had expected. I suppose the only real group of movie-goers that would not like this one is the big action/thriller buffs, though there was a little action. This movie had the cool effects, a great storyline, a love story (for the girls), and awesome twists. There really isn’t any other way to put this one. I am going to tell everyone about this one.

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The Black Dahlia

Title: The Black Dahlia

Starring Actor(s)/Actress(es): Josh Hartnett, Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Mia Kirshner

Genre: Drama/Thriller

Status: Out on DVD/Video

Plot Summary: Officers Blanchard (Eckhart) and Bleichert (Hartnett) are caught up in the case of Elizabeth Short (Kirshner), who was brutally murdered in L.A. They soon realize that certain things around them are clues and become completely obsessed.

Review: The movie was based on James Ellroy’s book, which was based around the unsolved 1947 murder in L.A. I’m not a huge detective-movie fan, but this one was good. The acting was great, the story was awesome and the general feel of the movie was a little creepy (in a good way). But there really wasn’t a whole lot of mystery. I had most of the things figured it out before they were revealed. Though it was really nothing special, the story was very good, and I’m contemplating ordering the book. The thing that really intrigued me to the movie was the actual murder story. I liked it, but it’s not one I plan on seeing again, or raving about to my friends.

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The Covenant

Title: The Covenant

Starring Actor(s)/Actress(es): Steven Straight, Laura Ramsey, Sebastian Stan, Taylor Kitsch, Chace Crawford, Toby Hemingway, Jessica Lucas

Genre: Action/Thriller

Status: Out on DVD/Video

Plot Summary: Dating back to the Salem Witch Trials, there have been five families of men who actually had supernatural powers. As the current four are growing up, the fifth is apparently lost. That fifth however, has found them, and is craving more power – their’s.

Review: I guess I’m a fan of these kinds of movies. It was from the producers of Underworld, which I loved. The story was interesting, nothing I’ve heard of before. Knowing a little about the Salem Witch Trials was nice, but not needed in the story. The action was neither constant, nor non-existent. The effects were good, though at some points were, not cheesy, but not great. Of course there was a love story, which spawned some un-needed material, but also added a nice relief at times. I liked the movie, but if you’re skeptical of this genre you wouldn’t really like it.

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Snakes on a Plane

Title: Snakes on a Plane

Starring Actor(s)/Actress(es): Samuel L. Jackson, Julianna Margulies, Nathan Phillips, Kenan Thompson, Sunny Mabrey

Genre: Action/Adventure

Status: Out on DVD/Video

Plot Summary: It’s Detective Flynn’s (Jackson) job to transport Sean (Phillips), a witnesses a murder that could put a mob boss behind bars, to California from Hawaii. They think the trip will be quick and easy. But little do they know that hundreds of deadly snakes have been released on the plane, and now they have to keep everyone alive in order to get back to the states.

Review: As much hype as this movie got when it came out, and from what I’d heard, it wasn’t supposed to be a very good movie. Though, even through the cheesiness of parts, it wasn’t half bad. There’s really nothing about this movie (other than Samuel L. Jackson kicking a bunch of snakes’ asses) that makes it stand out from any other airplane suspense movie. But it wasn’t bad and the action was pretty straightforward. The effects were unrealistic at times, but that’s really the only setback. I wasn’t expecting great things, but I did underestimate it.

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