This time it’s personal. The second sequel in the ‘Has Fallen’ series is probably the worst of the bunch and lacks the scope of the first two films, and while there are a couple of interesting action sequences there’s nothing matching the scale of the previous entries. Trumbull (Morgan Freeman) is now the president, there’s…
Tag: president
London Has Fallen (2016) – Babak Najafi
Secret Service Agent Mike Banning (Gerard Butler) is preparing to tender his resignation and see to his about-to-grow family with an expecting Leah (Radha Mitchell) when the world interferes again. This time, he and the president, Benjamin Asher (Aaron Eckhart) are off to London to attend a funeral; the British Prime Minister suffered a heart…
Olympus Has Fallen (2013) – Antoine Fuqua
Antoine Fuqua delivered another actioner with Olympus Has Fallen. Taking an obvious page from the Die Hard playbook of the lone hero taking on seemingly insurmountable odds, the story casts Gerard Butler in the role of Mike Banning, a secret service agent no longer on the President’s (Aaron Eckhart) protection detail after a horrific accident…
Star Trek: Picard (2022) – The Star Gazer, and Penance
Season two of Star Trek: Picard gets underway with a firefight on a Starfleet bridge, and Picard (Patrick Stewart) is right in the middle of it. The clock rolls back forty-eight hours and the the episode got underway on 3 March, 2022. Written by Micheal Chabon and Terry Matalas, a name we’re going to see…
Timecop (1994) – Peter Hyams
Director Peter Hyams pairs up with Jean-Claude Van Damme in this big-screen adaptation of the Dark Horse comic. Co-starring Ron Silver, Mia Sara, Gloria Reuben and one of my favourite character actors, Bruce McGill, this is probably the Van Damme film I enjoy the most. Max Walker (Van Damme) is a street cop who’s just…
Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Part 2 (2013) – Jay Oliva
The second installment of The Dark Knight Returns continues the adaptation of the iconic 80s graphic novel. Redefining Batman for a whole new generation, and putting the dark in Dark Knight, the story continues its exploration of an older (now no longer retired) Batman/Bruce Wayne (Peter Weller – who still can’t separate his Batman and…
The Post (2017) – Steven Spielberg
Spielberg shows us the (much-needed) power of the free press with The Post. Documenting The Washington Post’s involvement in publishing the Pentagon Papers, the film is a captivating newspaper thriller with a top-notch cast. Tom Hanks takes on the role of Ben Bradlee, chief editor of the Post, and Meryl Streep is Kay Graham, the…
TIFF ’22: Hunt
South Korean action star Lee Jung-jae makes his directorial debut with the brilliant action thriller, Hunt. Set in the 1980s when tensions were heightened between North and South Korea, the film is a white knuckle ride that sees two government rivals, KCIA Foreign Unit chief Park (Lee) and Domestic Unit head Kim (Jung Woo-sung) working…
Gwendy’s Magic Feather (2019) – Richard Chizmar
Richard Chizmar takes us back to Castle Rock with Gwendy Peterson in the follow-up to the novella Gwendy’s Button Box. Fellow author Stephen King doesn’t lend a hand this time but gives the story his endorsement and we join Gwendy, now a Congresswoman for Maine as she returns to Castle Rock to see her parents,…
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) – Cosmic Whiz Kid, and Escape From Wedded Bliss
Buck (Gil Gerard) pals up with another survivor of the 20th century, and the child genius president of the planet Genosia, Hieronymous Fox (Gary Coleman – which was the casting in the episode that I loved as a kid), as they square off against the evil Roderick Zale (Ray Walston – the casting that I…
The Mind Reels 