Review - Pain & Gain, The Conjuring, The Heat

Short reviews on some new and old movies I watched this past week. these movies include Pain & Gain, The Heat, The Conjuring, Drinking Buddies, The Birds, The Commitments, The Insider, Man of Tai Chi and The Iceman. Check out these mini reviews.

Pain & Gain (2013)

Starring The Rock, Mark Wahlberg and Anthony Mackie as a group of body builders who want to live the American dream. By trying to accomplish that, they commit a string of crimes which involves kidnapping, extortion etc. The movie is based on a true story and of course Michael Bay just had to go ahead and destroy it. As in, I thought the characters were fun and had good chemistry in the beginning but as the movie went along, everything became so drawn out and unfunny. The characters became overly silly and seem to have no idea what the hell they were doing. The jokes stopped connecting, the story became dumb and I just wished Michael Bay would stop directing.

Rating: 3.5/10

The Heat (2013)

Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy as unlikely police partners working to bring down a drug ring. McCarthy totally redeems herself from her previous comedy released this year (Identity Thief) and is pretty much the highlight of this film. She delivers some funny and memorable lines and her gimmicks drove this film. Sandra Bullock was solid along side her as the uptight and prissy partner. Even though the movie has its usual buddy cop cliches and sometimes tries too hard with the jokes, I still found it rather entertaining overall.

Rating: 7/10

The Conjuring (2013)

The Conjuring has been getting a lot of hype and even though it falls short on the scare factor, it was still a pretty decent horror flick. Based on a true story, it is your typical house haunting film; we meet the Perron family whose house is possessed and terrorized by a pissed off witch. Then we meet the Warren family (Vera Farmiga and Patrick Wilson) who tries to help out the Perron family; they play the Ghostbusters of this movie. The acting was good, the pacing was great and you do get your occasional scares here and there - even though they were few and far in between. The climatic exorcism scene was well done and the ending is wide open for a sequel.

Rating: 7.5/10

Drinking Buddies (2013)

Olivia Wilde delivers her best performance to date in this sweet and realistic take on friendship, relationships and beer. Olivia and Jake M. Johnson shares good chemistry and the acting from the cast overall was solid. However the story is very familiar and the ending was so predictable and dry. A decent indie drama but nothing you'll remember in the long run.

Rating: 7/10

Man of Tai Chi (2013)

Keanu Reeves makes his directorial debut with this martial arts film starring himself and Tiger Chen. Keanu Reeves plays Donaka Mark, a ruthless boss who operates an underground fight club into which he recruits Chen. The movie starts out okay and we are entertained by some good martial arts fights. The movie then drifts into complete boredom; the fights gets stale and Keanu Reeves horrible acting skills are brought to light. Man of Tai Chi is boring as hell.

Rating: 3/10

The Iceman (2013)

Based on actual events, The Iceman is the story of contract killer Richard Kuklinski and he is portrayed by Michael Shannon. Of course Michael Shannon delivers and puts everything into his role; he portrays his soft side and the mean side and did it so well. The cast was splendid, well except for Winona Ryder whose performance as Kuklinski's wife felt a bit off. The movie is a slow buildup with shooting sequences here and there so at no point was I ever bored. Some pacing issues at the start but it slows down and delivers.

Rating: 7.5/10

Older movies watched:

The Insider (1999)
Russell Crowe and Al Pacino make a good duo in this slow-paced, intelligent and rewarding drama involving the tobacco company. - 8.5/10

The Birds (1963)
I found the bird bits terrifyingly good but as for the rest of the movie.... not so much. - 6.5/10

The Commitments (1991)
A movie that pays homage to the soul bands of old while at the same time being so unintentionally funny and entertaining. Great casting. - 8.5/10