Red: Fun for all ages.

Ex black - ops CIA agent Frank Moses has settled into retirement and finds it to be less than what he expected. That all changes when assassins try to kill him and Sarah, the woman he loves. In order to settle the score and figure out the reasons why he is being targeted, Frank reassembles his old black ops team and they get back to work.

The best part of the film was watching a group of supremely talented actors take what could have been a very pedestrian action comedy and turn it into a breezy, enjoyable and ultimately satisfying movie experience. John Malkovich was convincing and hilarious as the paranoid/crazy Marvin, Helen Mirren changed it up and played the 50 cal machine gun blasting badass Victoria, Mary Louise Parker was delightful as Sarah, the “desperately seeking excitement” muse to Frank (played by Bruce Willis). Willis’ performance in particular stood out for he brought an emotional depth to Frank which most of his recent action roles have been missing. The story chugged along, minus a few dull spots here and there, at an agreeable pace and succeeded in either keeping the audience entranced with stylish action sequences or chuckling with delight at the antics of the Retired Extremely Dangerous agents.

Not as hardcore in tone and action as The A-Team or outlandishly ridiculous as Salt, Red found a good balance of both gun play and one liners to make the two hours the audience spent with it a fun time.

Grade: B

Salt: Been there, Seen that.

When she is accused of being a Russian sleeper spy by a defector, CIA agent Evelyn Salt goes on the run and tries to stay ahead of the Government agents who are pursuing her. In her quest to clear her name she uncovers a conspiracy that threatens to push America and Russia to the edge of war.

Who is Evelyn Salt? This was the question that was posed throughout the film and the plot device that drove the story forward. For the most part however, Salt wanted the audience to be aware of this storyline only on the surface and chose to focus more on the number of ways that Angelina Jolie could look badass either by utilizing heavy weaponry or punching someone’s teeth out. Jolie pulled off the physical stuff without breaking much of a sweat, making Evelyn Salt the kind of female CIA agent you did not want to cross paths with, but her story and her efforts to clear her name, save her husband and unmask the true conspiracy behind why she was accused of being a Russian spy got lost in the shuffle of fist-fights, car chases and other action sequences that the audience had seen before (and in better movies). Without that emotional core to the story, the film just felt like another mindless actioner and Salt's quest, while visually thrilling, rang hollow. An example of this would be Salt's relationship with her husband Michael. The audience was never shown the particulars of that relationship (because trust me, they didn’t just meet up via eharmony) so when his ultimate fate was revealed, their reaction was undoubtedly like Salt’s (unemotional and uninterested).

There was a definite feeling of “been there, done that” after the credits started rolling on Salt so if you are looking for a half-hearted attempt at an action thriller that will deliver at least entertainment on the surface, check it out.

Grade: C

Solaris: Brainy Sci-Fi at its best!

Dr. Chris Kelvin is sent to investigate what has happened to his friend and the rest of a research team on a space station that is orbiting the planet Solaris. But once he discovers the truth behind the strange happenings on board will he want to return to Earth himself?

I don’t believe that directors set out to confuse the audience with their films, confusion leads to alienation and, ultimately, an upset crowd. After viewing Solaris, I am sure there were more than a few viewers who were looking for a refund because they did not get it. They no doubt saw the name James Cameron on the dvd cover or movie poster and thought Solaris would be a rip-roaring, action packed thriller with big guns and even bigger explosions much in the same vein as Cameron’s previous films (Aliens, Terminator, etc.). Little did they realize that Cameron only produced the movie and let the director, Stephen Soderbergh, craft Solaris into a brainy sci-fi thriller more in line with a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It is a shame if viewers decided to turn off the movie once they realized they were not seeing the second coming of Aliens for they missed a film that challenged them to think and react to concepts and ideas that the story introduced, an exercise missing in most sci-fi films (or films in general) nowadays. Solaris dealt with a number of philosophical questions such as what is real, are we alone in this universe and if we are not, what would those other beings we come across want from us (if anything), what does it mean to be alive, and other thought provoking issues that could cause one’s eyes to go cross if they thought about them long enough. A film like this one could easily veer into the realm of pretentiousness if its actors are not believable, thankfully the performances were strong and helped to carry the narrative along. George Clooney gave a very un - George Clooney like turn as Dr. Chris Kelvin in that he was not suave and smooth with the usual charm he is known to exude. Kelvin was a broken man, disconnected from life thanks to the suicide of his wife Rheya (an affective Natasha McElhone) , who is simply going through the motions. When Rheya suddenly reappears to him thanks to the alien phenomena on the space station that is orbiting Solaris, he has to face the feelings and emotions of their tenuous relationship (which we see via flashbacks during the film). Their relationship was the thing that kept the audience hooked and made them ponder some of those deep questions previously mentioned.

Solaris is definitely not for everyone, but you are willing to take a chance and immerse yourself in a film that forces you to work out your own answer, it is worth a look.

Grade: B

The A-Team: Just a good old action film!

A group of Iraqi War vets known as The A-Team are on the run from the military. They are accused of a crime they did not commit and are not only trying to clear their names, but also bring the real perpetrators to justice.

Far from being just another big, dumb excuse for showing explosions the film had an actual story to it (certainly one tinged with hints of the modern world as in the movie evil military contractors and shady Government agencies were after a set of one hundred dollar bill printing plates and framed The A-Team when they stole them) that kept the audience engaged but all director Joe Carnahan needed was the slightest bit of a plot so that he could unleash a plethora of outlandish and extremely entertaining action sequences that would have mouths gaping (the “flying” of the tank was my personal favorite). Throw in a sturdy and effective performance from Liam Neeson as the team's leader Hannibal Smith, good support from Bradley Cooper as Face and Sharlto Copley as Murdock (sorry Quinton Jackson, I did not buy you as B.A. for a second), plus the always beautiful Jessica Biel and you get a nice bit of popcorn action film amusement that will keep you entertained.

If you are looking for the prototypical summer action film extravaganza, you could not do much better than The A-Team.

Grade: B-

G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra: It's okay to admit when you are wrong

The elite multi-national military unit known as G.I. Joe is tasked with fighting to save the day at any cost. However the threat they face in the form of the nefarious arms dealer James McCullen and his shadowy partner The Doctor (a.k.a. Cobra Commander) might be even more than the Joes can handle.

After seeing the trailers for this film, I was thoroughly convinced it would be the worse thing to hit theaters since the last stinker Stephen Sommers (who directed the film) unleashed (the infamous Van Helsing). And while the story was overburdened with too many subplots regarding the different characters and their origins (did we really need the backstory of Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow’s pasts?), the narrative contained no clear direction and the CGI was laughably awful at points (the accelerator suites looked like rejects from Stark Industries and I can hear people complaining even now about how the ice sunk in the climatic final battle between the Joes and Cobra), G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra was surprisingly easy to get sucked into and watch due to its non-stop action. Another aspect that aided in its watchability was the absorbing storyline of the tragic past between Duke and the Baroness which not only held the audience’s attention, but also kept the film moving and allowed Sienna Miller (the Baroness) the chance to give a tremendously over the top and entertaining performance. She simply reveled in being the bad girl, chewing up every scene she was in with a devious smile and delight that the other actors seemed to lack.

It is certainly never going to win any kind of serious film awards but if you turn off your mind and remember that you are watching a film based off of a 1980’s children’s cartoon, then you should be able to enjoy G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra for its action, outlandishness and escapism.

Grade: C+

Knight and Day: Tom Cruise as a guy who's lost his mind? There's a stretch!

Perpetually unlucky at love, June thinks her fortunes might have changed when she meets the mysterious Roy. But she might be in for more than she bargained for as it turns out Roy is a highly trained government agent that has apparently gone rogue and holds in his possession a secret device that could change the world.

For the first part of this film, you were fully engaged in what was happening on screen. It was hard to tell if Tom Cruise’s Roy was an agent who had flown the coop (mentally and physically) or if he was just a good guy who had been framed, Cameron Diaz was believable as June, the charming girl next door who was stuck in the middle of a mental exercise of being attracted to Roy but having that attraction put her in constant mortal danger. To top it off, the action was a mile a minute as the audience was inundated with a plane crash, a car chase and a number of fist and gun fights all within the first hour of screen time. Unfortunately the second half of the movie became mired in painful predictability story-wise via the use of prototypical plot devices featured in action comedies (such as True Lies), and a truly lackluster romance between the two leads. Try as they might, Cruise and Diaz had all the chemistry of oil and water, which meant the audience had nothing emotionally to connect with in Knight and Day.

All of the star power in the world could not save the movie from being nothing more than a cold, clone of an action comedy.

Grade: C-

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: An epic of epic epicness indeed!

Scott Pilgrim has met the woman of his dreams but there is a problem, she has seven deadly exes. In order to be with her, he must defeat these seven evil former flames in mortal combat.

So why should you rush out to rent or buy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World? For starters, the performances by all of the actors are solid, from the lead all the way through to the extras in the background. Michael Cera played Scott with the kind of geekish charm the part called for, Mary Elizabeth Winstead nailed her role as Ramona, Scott’s dream girl with the set of seven deadly exes while Kieran Culkin and Alison Pill stole almost every scene they were in as Wallace and Kim respectively. Visually, the movie reveled in its comic book source material and also paid homage to the numerous video games it referenced throughout the screen time. This meant that the fight sequences were a thrill to behold as Scott and his foes used insane moves (which can usually only be accomplished via impossible button combinations on a PS3 or Xbox 360 controller) to fight for the love of Ramona. Beyond all of that, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World was just a fun movie to watch for the story not only entertained the audience, but gave them a set of characters to emotionally connect with.

This film could have easily just focused on the numerous fight sequences, gone sophomoric in its humor and unleashed hip pop culture reference after pop culture reference or delved into bad toilet humor but (under the watchful eye of director Edgar Wright, the man responsible for Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, two films you should also check out after this one) instead, it blazed a trail of originality with its fully developed story that came complete with a hero in Scott who grew throughout the film and changed for the better by the end of it.

Grade: A