film stars

We’re all guilty of it, shamelessly looking at an actors body of working and criticizing them for not living up to their high standards of yesteryear – recently I compared the careers of movie legends Al Pacino with Robert De Niro, in their hay day their movies were sublime and their performances staggering yet in the last 12-15yrs both actors have lost their way, both have failed to ignite the screen with the same level of passion, intensity & quality – remember when Pacino was shouting “Say hello to my little friend” in De Palma’s classic Scarface and De Niro was cracking a baseball bat over someone’s skull in the wonderful Untouchables – they were the days, both starred in so many amazing films so I wonder why it is that these 2 stars are now settling for pretty average roles in lets face it pretty average movies? Maybe the great roles of today (of which there are few) are now falling to a younger generation of movie talent such as DiCaprio and Bale? Or maybe their happy with their lot, they’re still regarded as 2 of the greatest living actors so why not do roles as a favor for a friend or simply for the bigger payout? Whatever the reason, good news could be around the corner – the pair could soon reunite on Martin Scorsese’s gangster thriller The Irishman and with veteran Joe Pesci rumored to be on board this will have any film fan worth their salt purring like a cat in heat – so although the last 15yrs have been a mixed bag for Pacino and De Niro, I’m sure you will agree the movie world is still a brighter place with these two legends of our screen in it….

Escape Plan (2013) – Movie Review ★★★★

“You hit like a vegetarian”

Cast Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Vinnie Jones, Amy Ryan, 50 Cent & Sam Neill – Ray Breslin (Stallone) is a former prosecutor and now owns a security firm specializing in testing how reliable maximum security prisons are in the country – Breslin takes the unusual steps by getting put away in these prisons and then attempting to break-out, in the process testing the prisons design, it’s security and how escape-proof that particular prison is – during a board meeting at his firm a CIA agent offers Breslin 5 Million Dollars for his services in breaking out of a top-secret prison, the prisons location must remain secret – Breslin agrees to the terms, gets himself captured and the next thing he knows is when he wakes up in his cell, a room that is part of a complex of cells with no outside windows, so Breslin is none the wiser to where he has placed and that’s when the fun really begins VERDICT this is what the movies are all about – popcorn flicks get no bigger than a feature film starring the best two action stars in the business – Swedish director Mikael Håfström known for his work on 1408 and The Rite handles this action flick superbly well, it’s got everything a cinematic ride should have – a delicious villain played by Jim Caviezel, an evil henchman Vinnie Jones, a quick tempo with some fun fight scenes and fabulous cheesy one liner’s that only Arnie and Sly could deliver – overall Escape Plan is brilliant entertainment and I just hope that these two action heroes don’t leave it too long before teaming up in a feature movie one more time….