From Paris with Love Review

From Paris with Love, it is a really sappy title but it is a VIOLENT movie.  This movie stars Johnathan Rhys Meyers as a French Ambassador agent named Reece and John Travolta as Wax, a loose cannon rebel-type spy for the US.  When I first saw trailers for this movie I didn't even recognize Travolta, he is sporting a thick beard and no hair.  Very different from other characters I have seen from him in the past.

Reece is stuck doing softball missions undercover in the French Embassy when he gets the opportunity to uncover a terrorist plot with his new partner Wax.  They travel through the slums of Paris against coked up Chinese people leaving a trail of corpses, Wax's way of doing things, only to find that the real threat was under their nose the entire time.

This is your basic bang-bang shoot'em up flick but it does have a diferent feel with the setting of Paris.  I really liked the twist at the end, it was pretty unexpected and turned the whole plot around.  Although there were times at the begining when I felt confused, since they dropped you in the middle of Reece's life, the plot worked itself out through the course of the movie.  Also something I really liked was a nod to Pulp Fiction when Wax eats a 'Royale with cheese'.  Overall I would have to give this movie a RENT IT, it wasn't bad but not a cenematic masterpiece either.

See Ya,
Razz

Heroes: Brave New World Review

The Season finale of heroes aired this Monday.  Stupid Olympics causing Heroes to end early.  Any way we saw the last of the Carnival and Samuel story to be wrapped up.   We return at Matt's house where Eli confronts Matt and tells him that Peter, Sylar and Matt are needed to stay out of Samuel's way.  Sylar incopassitates Eli so they are free to go but Matt doesn't want to see Sylar go out to the world.  Matt tries to turn Peter thoughts of Sylar around but lets him leave after looking inside his head.  After the dynamic duo leaves Matt pushes a thought in Eli and sends him out.    I really thought that for a second Matt was going to try and pull the whole mental prison thing again but I'm glad to see he let Peter and Sylar go.  Also, poor Matt in that scene having his leg broken in by the Eli gang.  I'm just happy to see them not flay him like a pork loin. Claire and Noah are still trapped underground and Noah starts to think that this is the end for him.  After Noah passes out Tracy arrives and saves both of them by making a waterway escape.  Once they meet Lauren on the surface they all take a chopper to go stop Samuel in NYC.   Hiro wakes up from his surgery and finds an 90 year old Charlie in the same Hospital, convenient right?  After telling Hiro stories about her life he decides to go back in time to save her although Ando thinks it might mess things up more.  Hiro tells Charlie he is going back to rescue her but she insists on him leaving things alone because of what would happen to her family and the life she led.  Ando gets a call from Noah saying that they both must go to the Carnival to stop Samuel.   I'm glad I'm not the only one who found it convenient that Charlie happened to be in the SAME hospital.  Talk about your plot devices.  But yeah, I honestly expected Hiro to go back to get her till her grand-daughter came in.  Then I knew Hero Hiro wouldn't go back because Charlie was happy with the life she lived. Samuel tells Emma she is going to play the Chello and just as she begins to heed Peter's warnings her body is controllled by the evil Doyle.  Things start to come together when Emma starts to play and the Heroes arrive.  Sylar goes to stop Emma but hits a speedbump when he meets Doyle. While Doyle is distracted Emma and Sylar take him out.  Claire tries to convince the carnies that Samuel is evil but they don't believe her until HRG, Edgar and Eli tell the carnies about Samuel's attack on the carnival.  As the Carnies leave Samuel starts his reign of distruction to show his power but is taken out by Peter.  Samuel is then left power less once Hiro teleports them all out of the carnival.   I feel like for a final battle we were left disappointed yet again.  All we got to see was Peter and Samuel play push the dirt pile.  When are we gonna get to see a season finale battle that blows my mind?  The closest I think we've gotten is season 2 with Adam and Peter.  At the begining of Volume 6 we see all the Heroes reccouperating from Samuel's show.  Claire is asked about the show from a news crew and shows the her ability in front of the whole world.   This was a fairly good Season Finale but I think it would have been better if Hiro was left out of it.  The whole time the Hiro and Charlie stuff was going on I kept thining, what is Samuel or Claire or Peter doing?  This would have been better if all of that was cleared up in a previous episode and all Hiro did was Teleport the carnies.  I am glad we got to see what HRG is like drunk while he was in the trailer, and he is a happy one: called it!  I can't wait to see what is going to happen next season with the whole outing the specials thing, we have the possibility of mutant hunts or registration.  I think next season Heroes is going to start to look a lot like the X-men. I have to agree with Razz for the most part.  I said my piece on how the season could have ended.  I will say that I do expect some kind of X-men/Marvel registration thing for Heroes in the near future.  The other path they could go is to bring back the Company but have them more of a public government type thing.  If season 3 taught us anything, it's that just capturing them isn't going to work at all. See Ya & Till Next Time, Mike & Razz

Heroes: The Wall Review

This week we have the second to last episode of Heroes for this season.  We see what happens after Peter goes into Sylar's head and the aftermath of Samuel's Carnival hunt.   We return with Peter and Sylar both inside Sylar's head, which looks a lot like LA, who knew.  They are both working to try to get out to go save Emma at the Carnival but for some reason Peter's ability won't work.  After a month or so trapped they find the "wall" in Sylar's mind that is trapping them in there.  They both work for days to try to destroy the wall and finally have a heart to heart talk about their pent up anger about Nathan. Peter tells Sylar he needs the anger to keep Nathan alive.  Peter finally forgives Sylar and they are able to break out.  On their way out to the carnival they run into Eli who is ordered by Samuel to stop them.    I liked these parts of the episode.  We got sarcastic Sylar and no nonsense Peter going back in forth with banter followed by a heart felt moment that leads to a resolution to a problem that started at the beginning of the episode.  Wait, I just explained a sitcom's episode....oh well.  I think Peter and Sylar should get an apartment after this and have wacky hijinks.  Or that could just be me.... Samuel takes Claire to her father after he tries to sway her devotion to Noah.  Claire is shown Noah's memories of his past 25 years from his first wife who was killed by a TK to his first kill to him meeting Thompson and joining the company.  And Claire also sees HRG threatening Gretchen to bring Claire back from the carnival.  Samuel catches Lauren in the carnival and he talks to her about his plan to take the world with the power of the carnival.  After an argument with Samuel Claire goes to free her father from a trailer but before they can escape Samuel buries them in the ground.  Samuel then pulls up stake and goes to central park where he will reveal the carnival.   I feel like this was some good back story for Noah.  Who would have thought that he would have been previously engaged and pregnant?  It really shows the beginning of what is the transformation of Noah to HRG. This episode did a lot of setting things up for next weeks finally which looks to be one of the better season finales.  The Sylar and Peter stuff was kind of Corny but it is always a little bit awkward when those two have a scene together and they aren't trying to kill each other.  Samuel is really getting more and more desperate which causes him to get more evil.  So watch next week's episode and see what happens with the carnival.   See Ya & Til the Next Time Mike & Razz