Lucy (2014) – Luc Besson

I like Luc Besson’s work. His films tend to be slick, pretty to look at, throw in some fun effects, and usually attract solid actors to the project. Lucy is no different, and lets Scarlett Johansson take the titular role in a science fiction-tinged action movie. Lucy (Johansson) is betrayed into being a drug mule…

The Shallows (2016) – Jaume Collet-Serra

Blake Lively stars in a tight little actioner that runs shy of 90 minutes, but features some crisp and beautiful location and underwater photography. Lively is Nancy, a med student who has journeyed to Mexico to surf a secret beach that her mother once surfed long ago when she learned she was pregnant with Nancy….

Land of Bad (2024) – William Eubank

Land of Bad is a crisp military actioner. With a solid cast that includes two Hemsworth brothers, Liam and Luke, Russell Crowe and Milo Ventimiglia, the film takes us on a high-tension, tightly-crafted mission that sees a Delta Force team, and it’s accompanying drone (and operator) on the run after things go pear-shaped. The Delta…

Ocean’s Twelve (2004) – Steven Soderbergh

Soderbergh’s follow-up to the George Clooney, Brad Pitt all-star romp, Ocean’s Eleven delivers more of the same. A cast that looks like it’s having a fantastic time, but this time out, they have Europe as a backdrop. Terry (Andy Garcia) is tracking each member of the Eleven down, and delivers the warning that he wants…

Underworld (2003) – Len Wiseman

Kate Beckinsale kicks ass and looks stunning doing it as she plays Selene, a death dealer, or vampire, in Underworld, the next recommendation from DK Canada’s highly enjoyable Monsters in the Movies by legendary director, John Landis. There has been a war raging around humanity for centuries as vampires and werewolves, or death dealers and…

Daybreakers (2009) – The Spierig Brothers

The next entry in the vampire section of DK Canada’s very entertaining Monsters in the Movies book is a but of a unique tale. Set in the far future of 2019, vampires are the dominant life form on the planet after a virus has swept the world. Humans are dying out, and those that aren’t…

Ghost in the Shell (2017) – Rupert Sanders

Paramount Pictures’ live action adaptation of the classic anime, Ghost in the Shell, hits blu-ray and DVD today. I am going to eschew any discussion of the white-washing controversy surrounding the film’s production, and just focus on the movie itself. I love the original anime, and constantly saw it as kin to the cinematic version…

Universal Soldier (1992) – Roland Emmerich

Sometimes you are just in the mood for something blatantly mindless, poorly written, and violent fun. Well, the next stop in the Sci-Fi Chronicles book should provide me with more than a healthy dose of that as I dive into the works of Roland Emmerich. How he keeps getting A-list stars to work with him…