Rock The Kasbah is the latest movie from Barry Levinson. It stars Bill Murray, and is most definitely NOT a comedy, as the trailers may have you believe. It is very loosely based on the documentary Afghan Star, but in concept only.

Murray stars as Richie Lanz, a guy who’s on the lowest end of the show business food chain. Working out of a motel in Van Nuys, California, he’s acting as a talent scout and manager. It’s clear he’s scamming the people that come to him. Even his assistant Ronnie (Zooey Deschanel) is looking to him to get her career off the ground, but he has her singing Karaoke at a bar, performing standard songs instead of her own. He bumps into a friend, who says there’s money to be had bringing singers to Afghanistan, to tour with the USO.

Somehow, he convinces Ronnie it’ll be a sweet and profitable gig. He says goodbye to his estranged daughter (who reminds him that there isn’t a Kasbah in Afghanistan), and we cut to he and Ronnie on a plane landing in Kandahar, and she is very much airsick. She just wants to leave, but Richie prevails over her as they check into their cheap hotel, as the good, safe one is overbooked. They’re in the bar, and bump into Bombay Brian (Bruce Willis), who’s a security contractor just out on bail for roughing up some of the Afghanis. She heads upstairs for a nap before her first show and he stays at the bar. When it’s time to leave, he’s found that Ronnie has left, taking all his money and his passport, leaving him stranded.

The US consulate won’t immediately help, so he’s stuck. He ends up with two other Americans, played by Danny McBride and Scott Caan. They’re both arms merchants/war profiteers, who set up Richie as a negotiator for an arms sale. After a lot of money is literally tossed his way, he takes the job. He’s escorted by a team, lead by Bombay, and begins to realize this isn’t the cakewalk he was promised. He does manage to seal the deal, and is a guest of the Pashto village’s leader Tariq (Fahim Fazli) for the night.

Late at night, he manages to hear a woman singing. Her voice is perfect, and he discovers Salima (Leem Lubany) in a cave, where she’s got a TV and some magazines stashed. Naturally, she’s the daughter of the village leader, and when Richie asks to be her manager, he’s warned that women are forbidden from singing, so he’s asked to leave. Unbeknownst to him, Salima has hidden in the trunk, so he has effectively kidnapped her. Richie realizes that his only chance is to get her onto the show Afghan Star, no matter the cost.

Oh yeah, somewhere in here, Richie meets Merci (Kate Hudson), the hooker with a heart of gold who steps in at opportune moments. Yes, in Afghanistan, and yes, it’s a bit contrived.

I suspect that this was intended to be a comedic film. However, it’s not. Much like other Barry Levinson movies (Toys, Man of the Year), the film stars a comedic actor in a not-so-funny story, and in theory, the humor is supposed to fall from that. It generally doesn’t. Murray makes some wisecracks, which were smirk-worthy, but it was clear that the comedy falls to the wayside. If you’re expecting a lot of laughs, you will be disappointed. There is a point when you finally see what the movie will become, and it’s not a comedy. It’s sad, because Murray starred in last year’s St. Vincent, and the comedy worked, much better there than it did here.

Sadly, I don’t think a lot of people will like this film. I’m not entirely sure I do, either.

Brooklyn is the latest film from the Arthouse Film Festival Fall season. It is a screen adaptation of the novel of the same name, written by Colm Tóibín.

In the 1950s, Eilis Lacey (Saoirse Ronan) is the younger of two daughters living with their mother in Ireland. She has a part time job in a shop, and her job prospects are poor. Her sister Rose (Fiona Glascott) has arranged with a priest, Father Flood (Jim Broadbent), to sponsor her in the United States, in, as you guessed it, Brooklyn. Eilis makes the journey, and is set up at a boarding house, run by Mrs. Kehoe (Julie Walters), with several other Irish girls. Eilis gets a job as a Department Store ‘shop girl’, and is overseen by Miss Fortini (Jessica Paré), a somewhat cold, but encouraging manager. She emerges from her mousey self, and becomes quite good at her job. She and Rose exchange frequent letters, but is clear she’s homesick. Father Flood reaches out to her, and has Eilis help at a church function or two to overcome her fears. He also gets her to Enroll in Brooklyn College, where she studies bookkeeping, feeling that she can follow in her sister’s footsteps, although in America.

Eilis settles into a routine. On Fridays, she ends up at church dances, and manages to meet a guy, Tony (Emory Cohen), who is Italian, but has managed to get in to what is presumably an Irish-only event. She’s reluctant at first, but warms to him over time. The other boarders coach her on how to behave, and how to deal with someone from an Italian background. She meets his family, which is more traditionally Italian (Irish and Italians rarely interacted in those days).

One day, Eilis receives some unhappy news, and has to return to Ireland abruptly. When she returns home, everyone treats her well, far better than when she was growing up. She had only intended to be there for a short time, but circumstances force her to stay longer than planned. She’s pleased, but torn. Does she stay, or return to her love and the home she’s made in the US? Aye, there’s the rub.

It took me more than a while to determine what period this movie took place. There was no mention of World War 2, which threw me, until I remembered that Ireland was neutral, so it’s understandable that those events did not cast a shadow over what happened in the movie. The cast is full of fresh faces, one or two of which made me think they were someone else. The tone of the film is one of carrying on and endurance, in the face of solitude and internal reflection. There’s a scene in the film where Eilis is presented with a harsh reality, but is practically expressionless, however, Saoirse manages to emote without words. You’ll know it when you see it, as her face is one of many, but you are drawn to hers.

Our host, Chuck Rose, was implying Saoirse Ronan will receive an Oscar nod, but the competition will be tough.

I recommend this movie.

The Martian is the latest film from Ridley Scott. It is adapted from the book of the same name, written by Andrew Weir in 2011.The cast is full of well-known actors, more than you’d expect in any feature film.

Earth has sent several manned missions to Mars. The Ares III crew is in an established basecamp, and are performing their duties. A strong sandstorm develops, and is causing trouble for their lander, so they are forced to abort their mission. As they collect themselves and make their way to the lander, some debris smashes into the team’s botanist, Mark Watney (Matt Damon), and his spacesuit’s signal has gone dead. The mission’s leader, Melissa Lewis (Jessica Chastain) tries to look for him, but time has run out, so they all abandon the station, and begin the trip back to Earth.

As fortune would have it, Watney survives. He wakes the next day, half buried in the sand. The equipment that struck him was the communications array, which destroyed the transponder in his suit and pierced his suit. By some miracle, he’s alive, and makes his way back to the habitat, where he does a little self-surgery, and realizes he’s on his own. Help may be coming, but the next planned mission is more than a year off, at least. He has to find a way to survive that long, so he goes about finding what he can do, on his own, with the limited resources he has.

Back on Earth, they mourn the loss of Watney. The Ares mission commander, Vincent Kapoor (Chiwetel Ejiofor) wants to mount a search for what happened, but is rebuffed by NASA’s Chief Administrator Ted Sanders (Jeff Daniels). Ted says he wants NASA to focus on the next Ares mission instead of searching for bad news, which would be made public. Vincent ignores him and sets one of the overnight NASA mission control staff to take a few images of the camp. She discovers Watney’s alive, but NASA is powerless to do anything but observe from afar, until he can find a way to communicate with them.

Once Mark has overcome (more or less) the basic needs of food and air, he then focuses in on the long term goal of lasting until the next rocket arrives. How he accomplishes that is totally plausible, and is properly played out. It is scientifically believable, and within the realm of possibility, as are the events that follow. It’s quite an engaging experience, through and through.

I highly recommend this movie.

Ridley Scott has done his research, as did Weir, when writing the book. The visual presentation of the movie is flawless. Scott has captured the essence of being a scientist without being overly hamfisted or comical in portraying them. There isn’t one scientist who has all the answers, but instead the story clearly demonstrates that real science is a collaborative effort, with all the players doing their part. It’s rare to see it done properly on screen, and this is one of the few times it actually happens.

I do have a few quibbles with the film, because some events are missing from the movie. I suspect that more than a few of them were either planned or actually shot, but this movie is 144 minutes long, so they were not part of the main release of the film. I hope they’re provided and/or discussed when the movie is released on video, considering how thorough has been with his movies in the past.

Room (2015) is a suspenseful drama I saw this evening via the Arthouse Film Festival. It is adapted from the novel of the same name, and, as luck would have it, the script was brought to the screen by the book’s author, Emma Donoghue, something that rarely happens. The filmmakers were committed to making the film according to the original vision, and it works.

The film starts with a young woman, Joy (Brie Larson), in a small room with her son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay). She teaches him things (reading, Writing, etc), and they play from time to time. It’s a meager existence. They are occasionally visited by a Old Nick (Sean Bridgers), who delivers goods to them, while Jack ‘hides’ in the wardrobe. We come to find that Ma has been in this room for 7 years, and is a captive of the man. She’s tried escaping once before, to no avail. Jack is turning 5, and is beginning to understand the difference between reality and make believe. The arrival of a mouse gets Jack thinking, trying to understand the concept of inside and outside of Room, which is his only frame of reference. Joy and Jack fight, as Ma starts concocting a plan for getting out. How well it succeeds I leave to you to discover.

This is only the first part of the film. As you would expect, the situation changes, but how? What of Joy and Jack? Do they survive? What happens ‘after’? How does Joy’s family respond, and what happened since her abduction? Many films would not explore these possibilities, and would end shortly after ‘discovery’, on a happy note, but this one spends half it’s run length exploring it. It’s an appealing and completely plausible investigation into how things could evolve after that one moment when it all changes.

I’m trying to avoid spoiling anything more than I’ve had to. Brie Larson gives a strong and convincing performance, and Jacob gives a performance befitting the situation. William H. Macy and Joan Allen play their parts well, too.

I do recommend the movie.

Freeheld is a re-enactment of the events covered in the 2007 Documentary of the same name, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary, Short Subjects. It was this week’s selection for the latest season of The Arthouse Film Festival. Currently, it’s had a limited release, but it will move to more theaters soon enough.

Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore) is a police detective in Ocean County, NJ. Her partner Dane Wells (Michael Shannon) is interested in her, but has not made any sort of overt ‘move’ towards that sort of relationship. It wouldn’t matter anyway, because she becomes involved with Stacy Andree (Ellen Page), who buy a house together and get on with their lives. They even file for a Domestic Partnership, which allows some, but not all of the benefits of a legal marriage.

Laurel becomes ill. She is diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, and her focus becomes making sure that Stacy receives her pension benefits after she passes on. Stacy is more focused on getting Laurel better. The Domestic Partnership law does not outright grant Stacy those benefits, since she’s not a NJ State employee, but a NJ County employee. It is said that the decision to grant the benefits is left to the discretion of the County Freeholders, who, traditionally, have only decided all their votes with a unanimous decision. They initially deny Laurel’s request. That’s when the fun begins.

A gay activist, Steven Goldstein (Steve Carell) hears of the ruling, and is determined to make them overturn it. He’s willing to pick up the fight for Laurel, as he sees it as one step closer to marriage equality. Laurel just wants what’s fair, and doesn’t want to raise a stink. Stacy urges her onward, as Laurel’s treatments kick into high gear.

This film has an undercurrent of acceptance, and a desire for equality, which is what Laurel wants. If the system wasn’t ready for that, then that’s OK, let someone else take up the crusade. There’s a lot of give and take, to get to the core of the issue, which is that people are essentially driven by the same needs – security, family, and a sense of belonging.

Overall, it’s a really good movie. Michael Shannon’s performance is a bit stodgy, as that’s what his character seems to be, but a lot of that is Shannon himself. I was originally seeing him as a wooden kind of guy, but his transition towards acceptance really works well. Steve Carell is a bit over the top in his performance, and I expected that, knowing the sort of characters he plays. Fortunately, all the players have dimensions and do change over time. In the post-movie discussion, I heard that the role originally was supposed to go to Zach Galifianakis, but there was a scheduling conflict. While he may have been too flamboyant, Carell manages to pull it off anyway.

There were more than a few “oh, look, it’s that guy…and that guy!” The freeholders were all made up of those guys, including Josh Charles, Tom McGowan, and Dennis Boutsikaris, to name three. They rounded out the cast well.

I do recommend this film. I haven’t seen too many Oscar-worthy performances this year, so this film may have some. I was stunned to see that the ‘song for the movie’ that rolls over the credits is “Hands of Love” was written by Linda Perry, and performed by Miley Cyrus (!). That will get a nom, fer sure.

Learning to Drive is a modest Independent film. The story starts in Manhattan with a cabbie, Darwan (Ben Kingsley) picking up a man fleeing from a restaurant. Ted (Jake Weber) hurries into the back, but his wife Wendy (Patricia Clarkson) is pursuing him. Ted confesses to Wendy that he’s leaving for his girlfriend, leaving her in tears. Ted hops out of the cab, Darwan takes her home. She is broken, but believes Ted will return. The “Seven Year Itch” and all that, she later confesses to her daughter, Tasha (Grace Gummer). Tasha has already seen her father, and he has filed separation papers. Wendy won’t accept it, but instead focuses on Tasha’s recent past, as she’s spent the Summer in New England, on a remote farm, and wants her mother to move up with her before the upcoming harvest, in a chance to get away from it all. Wendy is a Manhattanite, through and through, and doesn’t really want to leave – she doesn’t even have a license, because she’s never needed one.

Wendy decides that if she’s to visit (not stay) with her daughter, she’ll have to get there on her own. She contacts Darwan, who is a driving instructor during the day. He arrives for her first lesson, and she changes her mind. Darwin insists she sit behind the wheel, and walks her through all the things she’ll need to do to drive, with her balking. Next thing, she’s on the road, and thus their working relationship begins. We find that she’s been uninvolved in anything meaningful outside of her job, so she’s rethinking her general behavior.

We discover that Darwan is a Sikh who’s left India after being persecuted and was imprisoned for being a terrorist. We hear that his only remaining sibling, his sister, has sent her son to live in the U.S. She is also trying to finally arrange a marriage for him, to which he’s reluctant to do, given his past, and his pickiness.

If you hadn’t guessed, Learning to Drive is a metaphor for taking charge, and assuming control over “your” life. The plot is fairly predictable, but it’s a good drama that is a cut above your standard movie fare, bolstered by the great cast. Kingsley and Clarkson work well together, and none of the movie seems artificial. Clarkson gives a sincere performance, and Kingsley is quite subdued in his role.

Recommended.

Mr. Holmes is a new film about Sherlock Holmes in his later years. Ian McKellen plays the titular role. It transpires in the postwar 1940s. Holmes has retired ages ago, and lives in a cottage near Dover, England. His body and his memory are failing. He is attended by Mrs. Munro (Laura Linney) and her son Roger (Milo Parker). After losing her husband in the war, she struggles to carry on, urging Roger to not bother Mr. Holmes.

As the film opens, Holmes is returning from a trip to Japan. A gentleman he has been corresponding with offered to help him locate a special plant, which could help him regain memories and help him cope with his aging. He returns to the cottage, and Mrs. Munro urges Roger to leave Mr. Holmes alone. Being a child, he cannot, and goes through Holmes’ papers. Roger finds a story and reads it. Naturally, Mr. Holmes realizes this, and they start to talk. The story is not a story at all, but it is Mr. Holmes’ final case, the one that caused him to retire. It is unfinished, and he has forgotten many of the details, but is struggling to recall enough that he can finalize the recounting of it and find the truth. Holmes is invigorated by this, and remembers a little more more. Meanwhile, he has taken a liking to Roger, and starts to teach him about beekeeping, one of his hobbies that’s sustained him through the years.

This film is three stories in one. The first is ‘the present’, the second is the case, and the third is his trip to Japan, and his interactions with his host. We find that Watson was the storyteller who had a fondness for embellishing the truth, which irritated Holmes to no end. For example, the Deerstalker Hat and Pipe were creations of Watson, and so on. The case he’s trying to remember did not end in the fictional manner that Watson indicated, so he’s trying to resolve it before he passes on. The case itself appears throughout the story, as Holmes remembers it, and the third is his trip to Japan. It goes in an unexpected direction that I will not reveal.

This movie works well on several levels. First, and foremost, the casting is brilliant. Ian McKellen is exceptionally good. He plays the frailty of his years and the frustrations of his aging extremely well, good enough that it made me question McKellen’s actual health. He’s that good. Laura Linney is good, but it’s hard to tell if she was an American in England for the war, or a citizen of the U.K. with a modest accent. Her intensity makes up for that. Milo Parker is more talented than you’d expect for someone his age. He reminds me of Thomas Brodie-Sangster when he starred “Love, Actually”, but moreso. The rest of the cast, especially Hattie Moran as Ann Kelmot, are really committed to making the story work. The second is that the stories, on their own, aren’t all that strong, but the flipping between then strengthens their power. There are several turns of events that kept me guessing on the outcome.

This film has a melancholic tone, but the it slowly builds towards the finale. I expected the film to be decent, but it’s much more than that. There’s power in this drama, and it made me consider something about Sherlock Holmes that has only been hinted at in many of the various representations of him on screen.

I definitely recommend this film, and I’ve already placed it in my top ten movie list for 2015.

American Ultra is yet another summer action film that follows certain movie cliches you’ve seen before, but, coupled with some good performances from unexpected actors, work well as a whole.

Mike Howell (Jesse Eisenberg) is a stoner who works at a convenience store. He has panic attacks whenever he tries to leave the area. The film starts with him and his girlfriend Phoebe (Kristen Stewart) trying to leave for a trip to Hawaii, where he intends to propose. However, he camps out in the bathroom, and they have to cancel the trip. On the way home, they’re pulled over, where the officer reminds them of the many times he’s been brought in for this petty crime or another. At home, Phoebe is irritated, but forgives him, while he debates his next attempt to propose. He decides to use fireworks, so he seeks out his friend Rose (John Leguizamo), a sordid guy who is his good friend.

Meanwhile, back at the CIA, Victoria (Connie Britton!), receives an anonymous phone call, saying that her Ultra project has been terminated, and the project will be deleted. She rushes to confront her former cow-orker, now boss, Adrian (Topher Grace), who says his Tough Guy project was superior and she should just accept it. She doesn’t, so she goes to warn Mike at the convenience store. Victoria finds Mike, says the trigger phrase, but he fails to recognize it, so she leaves, frustrated.

Adrian’s Tough Guy agents arrive, and Mike notices them vandalizing his car. He asks them to stop, but they attack, and that triggers the sleeper agent in him. He dispatches them quickly and abruptly. He freaks out, calls Phoebe and neither can understand what happened. By then, the police appear and arrest them for murder. Adrian is tracking Mike, and the agency concocts a bogus virus outbreak to lock down the town and finish the job. Of course, it’s never that simple…

There are some nice touches in the movie. Mike is a comic artist in his spare time. Some of the banter works really well, and I suspect there was a lot more of a story with Rose and his guys than made it to the screen. More than a few of the characters are pretty much one-notes, but, to me, it was a good mix. The action was a bit frantic, but fortunately it didn’t warrant Shaky Cam behavior (it was easier to follow). Some of the stunts weren’t entirely plausible when taken as a whole, but individually, they were visually impressive. The fights are a bit graphic, so be forewarned. There’s a bit of cringeworthy violence, but nothing too gory. Some of the plot points were a little questionable, but not completely implausible.

There is a decent coda to the story that brings it all together. There’s also an animated story around the credits that’s entertaining, and makes sense, in retrospect. When it comes to cable, I will probably watch it again to see how it ties to an earlier part of the story. There is no post-credits scene.

Recommended.

The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is a re-envisioning of the TV show from the 1960s. The movie takes place in the midst of the 1960s, when the Cold War was on the rise. I’ll state up front that I don’t really remember the TV show, other than the basic premise.

The movie starts off at Checkpoint Charlie, the border between the U.S. held portion of Berlin and the Portion of Berlin “managed” by the U.S.S.R. Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill), a CIA agent, crosses over to East Berlin, to see out Gaby Teller(Alicia Vikander). She is the estranged daughter of an important German scientist, who has gone missing. It is said he has discovered a way to generate enhanced Uranium faster and simpler than has been done in the past. Since he’s gone missing, Solo attempts to recruit Gaby to find her father via an uncle, who might know where he’s gone to. Before he can convince her, he realizes that he’s been followed by a KGB agent, but Solo escapes with Gaby, and they are able to make it to West Berlin after a quick car chase with the agent.

Turns out that neither the Russians nor the Americans know who’s taken him, and the only lead is via this uncle, who is now working for a shipping company in Rome. It is discovered that the shipping company has suspected ties to some undesirable elements. Knowing this, the Russians team up with the Americans. And thus, a partnership is formed between Solo and the KGB agent who was chasing him through Berlin, aka Illya Kuryakin(Armie Hammer). The two have to work together to locate the missing scientist, and any Uranium that has been produced. Gaby and Illya pose as an engaged couple, going to meet the uncle, and this shepherds the story along, and this is where the film gets into gear.

I did not have a lot of hope for the quality of this movie, as there hasn’t been much promotion of the film. Guy Ritchie co-wrote the film, and also directed it, so expectations were high. This is, essentially a buddy cop movie, but they’re spies, instead. Cavill plays Solo as cool, and elegant (almost an American James Bond), while Hammer portrays Kuryakin as the brawler with an extremely short fuse. Both agents work alone, so having a partner is something neither wants. The antagonism and camaraderie towards each other initially seems a little forced, but, as you would expect, they do end up working well together, but in their own ways. I did not expect the level of witty banter, though, and helped convince me they weren’t intending to be too serious about it – considering the movie’s from Guy Ritchie, it makes a lot of sense. There are a few action scenes that are done well. Some of them are in the style they used to do in the 60s, where the screen is split into several panels, each with their own sequence (and often muted). That was a nice touch.

I had some minor quibbles with the movie – a computer disk from the 1960s would be huge and hard to conceal, but what they use as a stand-in is some sort of tape cartridge instead. Also, Vikander’s trying to play German, and while she’s Scandanavian, it doesn’t quite work. Her English was dialect-free, as if she were just reciting her lines without a trace of any accent. Other characters did the same, but, as I said, it’s not really a complaint.

I recommend the movie.

During the credits, they show dossiers of the main characters briefly. There is no post-credits sequence.

Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation is the latest movie from the Mission: Impossible franchise. It was directed and co-written by Christopher McQuarrie, who has written for several other Tom Cruise films. Before I go on, I must point out that I have not seen the three previous films in the series, but fortunately, that’s not necessary.

At the core of this, the Mission: Impossible team (or I.M. Force) is a covert counter-terrorist group, overseen by “The Secretary”, a member of the US Cabinet. Back when it was a TV show, their mission (if they choose to accept it) was to go beyond normal means to gather information and/or thwart activities that threaten the safety of the United States and the world as a whole. That’s still true, because they operate outside normal rules and regulations, and cover their tracks as they depart.

M:I-RN starts with the I.M. Force trying to prevent chemical weapons from bring delivered. There’s a thrilling chase to get onboard a cargo plane by Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his associates Benji Dunn (Simon Pegg) and Luther Stickell (Ving Rhames) assisting him. This cold open is much like what you’d see in James Bond films, and hits the ground running.

Of course, they’re in trouble with the CIA. They infiltrated the CIA in the past, and their director, Hunley (Alec Baldwin) wants them shut down. The I.M. Force’s inside man, William Brandt (Jeremy Renner) tries to defend their actions, but there is no appointed Secretary, so he cannot and will not reveal any information about how the group operates, so Congress shuts them down, and they are to be re-integrated back into the CIA for other work. Ethan Hunt does not comply, because he believes there’s a foreign agency, called The Syndicate, that is the counterpart to the I.M. Force, and even without proof, remains hidden until he can prove its existence.

Everyone else is back under the CIA’s guidance, and efforts to recapture Hunt are continually unsuccessful. Turns out, someone else is after Hunt, and captures him first, but he manages to escape. This renews Hunt’s determination to find the Syndicate and eliminate it. Through a deception or three, he manages to get the band back together to accomplish that goal.

What follows is an elaborate shell game. That is the core of any Mission: Impossible movie – keep moving forward in the con game, and it will eventually work itself out. Plans work, some fail, but the deception goes on to the thrilling conclusion. You aren’t sure of anyone’s loyalties, right up until the very end. I do like a film where the plot isn’t entirely spelled out in the beginning, and this movie kept me guessing. The action scenes were appropriately frantic, the deceptions were thrilling, and you definitely have to check your suspension of disbelief at the door.

Really. I’m not kidding. Check it before you go crazy. There’s stuff here that just doesn’t make sense, from a practical standpoint. I’m convinced that they came up with the idea “Let’s have a stunt where this happens, and then we can wrap some bogus movie logic around it. People won’t notice. It’ll be great!” However, like I said, don’t think too hard about those things, and you’ll enjoy this film a lot more. I know I did. I do recommend this action movie for exactly what it is. You won’t regret it.

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