The Source Code

3 pipes out of 4

When going into The Source Code one expects an action thriller without great acting but entertaining. When you come out you are completely surprised in with the acting and message. The Source Code takes you on an emotional journey and question what is the cost of safety. Blackhawk Helicopter Pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) wakes up in the source code with no memory how he got there but is told by his one link to the outside world mission controller Carol Goodwin (Vera Farmiga) that he is the only hope to find the culprit who bombed a commuter train in Chicago. He can find the culprit by using a government program called the Source Code which allows him to go back and live in the last 8 minutes of a person’s life who was on the train. The story appears completely predictable from the beginning but it turns you upside down with a completely different ending than predicted. The only real identifiable actor in this film is Jake Gyllenhaal but some may know Michelle Monaghan from Eagle Eye or Made of honor. Even without the big name actors this film brings expert acting exciting action into one great movie.

Hanna

2 pipes out of 4

Get ready for action and depression. Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) is  a secret CIA project that went wrong and her father (Eric Bana) takes her to the Arctic. Once she is ready Hanna is on a mission to kill CIA operative Marissa (Cate Blanchett) and Marissa is trying to capture Hanna. Twists and turns abound with an emphasis on the Brothers Grimm fairy tales. The fairy tales are Hanna’s one grip on a real life because she was raised in the Arctic since early childhood. Hanna is a very depressing movie because whenever a speck of hope arises for Hanna it is immediately crushed by the relentless Marissa who will do anything and kill anyone to find her. The mood is brought up with all the action that takes place throughout the film but don’t go to this movie expecting an ending where it all works out because you will be in for a surprise. There are also a couple of plot holes that need explaining near the end but not important enough to deter you from the movie. Hanna is a good action film similar to Salt in that it has good action but not the everybody’s happy ending.

John Q

3 ½  pipes out of 4

The health care system is pretty messed up right now and this movie shows us just how screwed up it really is. It is a tragic story about a down on his luck father John Quincy Archibald (Denzel Washington) whose son needs a heart transplant but his insurance won’t cover it. In order to get his son the surgery John takes a hospital emergency room hostage until the hospital gets the heart. John Q also stars Robert Duval as the police hostage negotiator and James Woods as a stuck up doctor. I love this movie because both Washington and Duval give heartfelt performances while Woods, as well as Anne Heche who plays an uncaring hospital executive, give a face to the problems with the health care system. The ending does not go completely as you might want it to but it is much more realistic. This is not an uplifting film so if you’re looking for a lovie dovie film you won’t find it hear. It really makes you think about the issues of today and who is at fault.

Limitless

½  pipe out of 4 

Robert De Niro has made some pretty great movies during his acting career but as of late he has chosen bad movie after bad movie such as Righteous Kill, Little Fockers and now Limitless. The film also stars Bradley Cooper but I don’t expect much out of him as a lead role because the best movie he has done was about a bachelor party where he gets rooffied and can’t remember anything. Limitless follows the strife of a struggling author Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) who has writers block and his girlfriend just broke-up with him. He runs into a former acquaintance who offers him a miracle drug that lets him access all of his brain. He is immediately hooked and becomes incredibly successful until he runs into huge business owner Carl Van Loon (Robert De Niro) and he runs out of the drug. Limitless had an incredible similarity to Law Abiding Citizen but instead of rooting for the bad guy you are rooting against the good guy. Bradley Cooper’s character makes himself look like a douche and an idiot but at the end of the movie you’re supposed to like that he outsmarted De Niro. When it comes down to it you want Morra to fail and especially not get back together with his girlfriend after she takes the drug and realizes that it changes the person who takes it. The ending also leaves you with more questions than answers because in an epilog there are 12 months that pass where we don’t know what happens. It really says something when the best part of the movie doesn’t come from the movie itself but from the audience’s reaction to the realization that Morra will drink the blood of another human who has the drug in his blood system in order to get the drug.