Gemini Man, Review: Clone arranger Ang Lee directed this poor man’s James Bondage? The man who made Eat Drink Man Woman, Sense and Sensibility, Crouching Tiger--Hidden Dragon, Brokeback Mountain and Life of Pi? No, this is the Ang Lee who made Hulk, which earned twice its cost. A VFX delight, Gemini Man is about a clone on a mission to kill a man who is a professional killer, and is also the man he was cloned from. The movie disappoints, with a below par screenplay, and few impressive d...

Solo: A Star Wars Story, Review: Buccaneer, Chewbacca, the survival axiom and the deadly coaxium A long time ago (41 years) in a cinema hall far, far away from my home, I saw the first Star Wars film. What are 41 years in a universe where spaceship pilots are 190 years old? While you Chewbacca, let me tell you that the 190 year-old is a Wookie (closer to apes than humans), and that the aspiring pilot and the star of the movie, Han Solo, is played by an actor who is 29 but can easily pass off...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent You could say it’s a sweaty little secret, but in ninety-nine percent of all enduring Hollywood blockbuster smash hits, inevitably some man will break into a sprint to save his life. Consider Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow as a running man, from himself and various Admirals, Captains, Dead Men, and “natives.” Recall the beach scene in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise where he breaks full tilt chased by cannibals, who us...

by Quendrith Johnson, Los Angeles Correspondent Ever since STAR WARS time immemorial, or 1977, depending on how tuned-in to George Lucas’ space saga you are, there’s been one constant: a massive fan base. In fact, stealing from the tech world, you could even say “all your fan base are belong to us.” Us being George's LucasFilm Ltd, Kathleen Kennedy his key producer, and every single actor who’s been on board, from Harrison Ford to Daisy Ridley...

Transporter Refueled, Review: Fuel efficient and fired up Originally titled The Transporter Legacy, the film’s French title remains Le Transporteur: Héritage, while in American English, it is Transporter Refueled. It is the fourth film in the Transporter franchise, with Ed Skrein replacing three-timer Jason Statham in the title role of Frank Martin, a move that a lot of Statham fans have found hard to digest. The first Transporter movie (2002) was a moderate success. It spawned t...

The Expendables 3: Generation Ex+Gen Next “The challenge was to write literally 16 main characters in a two-hour movie, and how often do you get to write for Zorro, the Terminator, Rocky, Indiana Jones and Mad Max?”—Creighton Rothenberger and Katrin Benedikt, co-writers, The Expendables 3. The Expendables are a group of righteous, patriotic mercenaries, used by the CIA in operations where the US government does not want to be officially involved. They are led by Barney Ross...

  Indiana Jones himself will be on the scene when the Santa Barbara International Film Festival will present its fifth annual Kirk Douglas Award For Excellence In Film to legendary actor/producer Harrison Ford. The black-tie Gala, which serves as a fundraiser for the Festival will take place at the Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara on Friday, November 19. Ford, one of the planet's biggest stars for more than 3 decades, has made an astonishing 43 feature films, 12 of which hav...