Morning Glory (2010)

★★★★1/2

Becky Fuller, a very strong and determined young TV producer takes up the struggling task of producing a failing morning news program. With the ratings in the dumps she has no choice but to enlist the help of veteran news reporter Mike Pomeroy, who isn’t thrilled or willing to be on morning news. Now Becky needs to find a way to make Mike cope with the show to not only save her job the jobs of all her co-workers whom she’s come to love and respect. I love this movie; it’s very reminiscent of the 80s and 90s rom-com movies. It has a great cast and wonderful yet very busy story that often makes me stressed out. Harrison Ford is wonderful as Mike Pomeroy and shows a great deal of character development throughout the entire movie.

Proteus (1995)

★★1/2

After their Yacht explodes from an engineering problem, a group of heroine smugglers find shelter aboard an abandoned oilrig. However, after investigating the rig for foot and medical supplies, they come to realize that the entire rig is just a cover up for secret government project involving biological experimentation. Unfortunately, the experimentation was a success and there’s a monstrous creature on the loose. Full review here.

Waiting (2005)

★★★★☆

Taking place between the opening and closing of Shenaniganz, a Bennigan’s style restaurant, the story follows the employees during a typical two-shift day as they deal with adulthood, relationships, work problems and personal hardships. This is one of those raunchy, coming of age movies that slipped beneath the radar but has a very serious and sad subplot that works well with the overall story. The cast is great and the characters are all believable but the story isn’t just focused in on one character but rather several, making the audience literally feel like they are observing everybody. What’s so great about this is that all the situations and characters are very believable.

Red (2010)

★★★★☆

Based off of the comic book of the same name, the story follows Frank Moses… a retired yet extremely dangerous black-ops agent who unwillingly becomes the target of a government assassin. With his life and life of his other black-op agents on the line, Frank assembles his former team back from retirement to uncover the conspiracy. Making matters worse, he accidentally involves a female telephone operator who he’s had a crush on. This is what a good action movie is all about: great witty dialogue, a cast that seems to work great with each other, explosions and some type of secret government operation. This was a fun ride from beginning to end but I think Malkovich shines through the entire film and upstages, in some scenes, veteran action hero Bruce Willis.

Slither (2006)

★★★★1/2

Arguably a remake of the 80s cult classic Night of the Creeps, this horror tale is about an alien slug that takes over the body of Grant Grant. Unfortunately Grant becomes a hideous, gelatinous alien that lets loose a hoard of alien slugs on the town. Now, as people are dying and resurrecting from the slugs it’s up to the town sheriff and Grant’s young wife to save what is left from the town before the alien species takes over. The film accomplishes what it set out to do; it’s gritty, it’s witty, it’s funny but it comes at the cost of gore, blood and disgusting body horror scenes. It effectively captures the heart of 80s horror using practical effects and successfully homages the Troma films of the 80s.

Independence Day (1996)

★★★★☆

In this big budget action-packed movie aliens invade Earth and decimate all the major cities by synching up a countdown. With the world on the brink of destruction, the president must enlist the help of a rough-and-tumble Air Force pilot, a computer expert who is an ex-lover of his Press Secretary and an alcoholic airplane pilot who claims to have been abducted. I love this movie mainly because of its action and quick dialogue. Sure it’s cheesy and some may argue there is no plot, but that’s what these movies are all about. I even love how over-Patriotic the film is, especially since a Canadian directs it.

Die Hard (1988)

★★★★★

When a group of terrorists seize control of an L.A. office building, NY cop John McClane decides to take matters into his own hands and tries to save the hostages even if it means taking out every terrorist one by one. Unfortunately the LAPD insists that McClane should leave the terrorists to the FBI but they don’t understand that these aren’t just your typical terrorists. This is the definition of an action movie and words cannot describe how much ass this movie kicks.