After noticing a gaming and book review column for last year’s Satellite, I decided what is missing… a movie column! Now firstly you may be thinking, who is this guy? What does he know about movies? Well I can tell you that I work at Sky City Cinemas across the road in Albany mall, which means that I do watch a large amount of movies. Mainly due to the fact that all Sky City Cinema staff receive two free double pass movie comps every pay day (fortnight), and before I get emails in saying can you give me free comps they have to be redeemed with Staff ID… nice try though. I’ll mix it up and review one new movie and one old movie per issue to make it a bit more interesting!
Gran Torino (2009)
Genre: Drama
Running time: 117 mins
Rating: 4.5/5
After watching the trailer a while back, I was a bit iffy as to whether this was going to be good. That soon changed after watching the movie. Clint Eastwood plays Walt, a Korean War veteran who holds onto his prejudices despite changes in his neighborhood. A young Hmong teenager tries to steal Walt’s prized possession: his 1972 Gran Torino, which causes the two to strike up a friendship as a result. It starts off a bit slow, but does build up throughout the movie. The humor that Eastwood evokes as he talks to his neighbours is quite amusing; insulting them in creative ways. Eastwood manages to portray a different perspective from war veterans, and show how prejudices developed from so far back can be changed in today’s world with a little help. It does have you on the edge of your seat at some points during the movie, but it’s designed more to have you sit back and reflect on what you have just watched. I really enjoyed this movie and would recommend it to those of you who want a change from the generic action and adventure movies that always seem to be playing.
Air Force One (1997)
Genre: Action/Thriller
Running time: 124 mins
Rating: 5/5
Now if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you really should go to the video store and get it out on DVD. Harrison Ford plays the President of the United States of America, whose plane, the Air force One, gets hijacked. Not wanting to leave his family behind, the President stays onboard and tries everything in the book to get the plane on the ground. For a movie made in the 20th century it does have rather good visual effects, especially the in air explosions. It is rather entertaining that they solve one problem then another one appears, they solve that, then another one appears and so on. The different scenes however are well blended together so it does make logical sense going from one problem to another but it’s a bit predictable. If you are interested in getting a good look from what Air Force One looks like on the inside, then this movie is definitely for you. Air Force One would be one of my top movies of all time and the fast paced action, fighter jets, explosions and twists in the movie clearly make it worth the 5 out of 5.
Written by:
Chris Paulin
chris@battlefield.co.nz