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Killers, a review by Dragonfire

I decided to go see Killers yesterday.  Of the movies starting on the 4th, that is the one I was most interested to see.  I know that some are trashing the movie, but I enjoyed it.  Yes it has issues, but I still thought it worked as an entertaining movie overall.  It is a bit silly, but it is also fun overall.

The plot isn't the most original being sort of like True Lies and Mr. and Mrs. Smith, though there are a few different elements.  It would have been better if the story had been more original..or at least if some things had just been handled a bit better.

Spencer is a CIA killer in France for a job.  Jen has recently been dumped and he goes on the vacation she originally planned with her ex with her parents.  Spencer and Jen met in an elevator in the hotel and decide to have dinner that night.  They keep seeing each other while in France and they get married once back in the States.  Spencer decides that he is leaving his job even before he knows the relationship is going to last.  Three years later, things seem perfect for the couple.  then Spencer is contacted by his former boss who wants Spencer to do another job.  The next day, people start trying to kill Spencer and Jen finds out the truth about his former job when she wanders into one of the attempts. 

There is a decent amount of action to the movie, mostly provided by shootings as well as a few car chases.  Spencer does get into a few fights as well.  The violence isn't that extreme or graphic.  Some of what happens is funny, but the movie wasn't as funny as the previews made it out to be.  Jen freaks out more than once with what is going on, and that does add some of the humor. 

The characters are somewhat interesting.  Spencer is very good at his job with the CIA but he leaves that all behind after meeting Jen.  It is sort of hinted at that he had already been having some issues with the work, though that isn't explored.  Spencer does make some mistakes, but he is a decent, likeable character overall.  I did like Ashton Kutcher in the part.  It is a bit more ...subdued than some of his other parts have been.

Jen is kind of a mess of a character.  She acts completely different at first after meeting Spencer.  As things happen, sometimes she manages to deal with things already and other times she flips out.  At one point, she decides that something is going on - after it is just randomly mentioned by Spencer in passing - and she slips into the stereotype behavior for that event before even knowing if it is true or not.  She wants to run home to Daddy and let him deal with the situation instead of giving Spencer much chance to handle things.  She demands answers, which she does deserve.  But she does it while they are clearly in danger and Spencer is still trying to get them to safety.  She is a bit irrational at times and just annoying.  The more I think about her, the more annoying I think she is.  It is almost impossible to like her.  I think most of that is because of how the character is written, but some of it might be because of Katherine Heigel playing the part.  I'm not that fond of her.  Jen's parents turn up every so often and they are mostly flat characters.  Her dad talks about doing things and certain way and being prepared..and he criticizes the fact that Spencer does things differently.  Her mother is always drinking something, so she's at least somewhat drunk in every scene. 

Overall, I do think the movie is entertaining, though it definitely could have been better.  It isn't bad as a fluff type of movie.  I would have gone with 3.5 stars on Epinions, but since I couldn't, I went ahead and rounded up to 4.  So I'll use that rating here too.



I did post a longer review on Epinions if anyone wants to take a look.

Killers

(From Killers on June 6th, 2010)

Jab Tak Hai Jaan, a review by Tom

Jab Tak Hai Jaan (2012/India) IMDb | Wikipedia Rapid Eye Movies, Alive (Germany) Director: Yash Chopra Writing: Devika Bhagat (Screenwriter), Aditya Chopra (Screenwriter) Length: 175 min. Video: Widescreen 2.35 Audio: German: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, Hindi: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Subtitles: German

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Stars:
Shah Rukh Khan as Samar Anand
Katrina Kaif as Meera Thapar
Anupam Kher as Meera's father
Anushka Sharma as Akira Rai
Rishi Kapoor as Imran

Plot:
After finding and losing his true love in London, Samar Anand defies death by becoming a bomb disposal expert for the Indian Army. Returning to London after 10 years, he suffers amnesia after an accident. Will he be reunited with his love?

Awards:
Won:

Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Lyricist (Gulzar)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Supporting Actress (Anushka Sharma)

Nominated:

Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Actor (Shah Rukh Khan)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Lyricist (Gulzar)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Playback Singer - Female (Neeti Mohan)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Playback Singer - Female (Shreya Goshal)
Filmfare Awards (2013)		Best Playback Singer - Male (Rabbi Shergill)

Extras:

• Scene Access
• Trailers
• Deleted Scenes
• Featurettes

This movie has a lot of milestones. It is Yash Chopra's first film after an eigth year pause (his last film was the great Veer-Zaara, also with Shah Rukh Khan). It marks his 50th anniversary of his Bollywood career. And sadly it was also his very last film, because he died shortly after filming it. Another milestone in this movie: Shah Rukh Khan's first on-screen kiss. Kissing in Bollywood movies has been a taboo which only has been broken more and more in recent years. Even though, Shah Rukh Kan was still holding out. I had read an interview of him, where he said he would never do it. So imagine my surprise, that he did in this movie.
I bought this movie on the day of the release, even though the price was quite high, because I really wanted to see another Shah Rukh Khan movie, which was more like his older movie and not like the ones in recent years. It promised to be more like Veer-Zara, and it almost kept this promise. It is not quite as great, but still a lot of fun and at times touching. Both love interests did a great job. I really happy to see Anushka Sharma and SRK together in another movie since Rab Ne Bana Di Jodi is one of my favorite movies. Katrina Kaif also did a good job. Though it would have been fun to see SRK reunite with Preity Zinta for this movie (who starred with SRK in Veer-Zara and Kal Ho Naa Ho).

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on March 8th, 2013)

Pete's Pilots, a review by addicted2dvd

The Buccaneers
Set in the West Indies in the 1720's, The Buccaneers told the rousing tale of reformed pirate Dan Tempest (Robert Shaw), who had been the leader of a band of freebooters in the British Caribbean province of New Providence, as he battled against buccaneers and Spanish attack after being persuaded by Lt. Beamish (Peter Hammond), the new deputy governor, to switch sides and fight on behalf of the Crown.

Blackbeard
A new British governor arrives at the port of New Providence assigned the task of bringing law and order to the British colony. Authorized to grant pardons to any buccaneers swearing allegiance to the Crown, Governor Rogers faces some resistance from Blackbeard.

My Thoughts:
While an enjoyable series... I don't care for this one quite as much as I do The Adventures of Robin Hood. But then I never been that huge on pirates anyway. Plus this lacks the comedy I enjoyed so much in The Adventures of Robin Hood.

My Rating:

(From Pete's Pilots on November 9th, 2009)