SPY GAME (Theatrical Release USA 2001)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.9|5.0 Starsììì

Spy Game starts with high intrigue, suspense, and action and keeps its intensity throughout the film. It’s an excellent entertainment pick with Brad Pitt and Robert Redford as the main actors. The movie plays well from beginning to end. The writers, Michael Frost Beckner and David Arata, display outstanding skill in weaving a complex story line based on CIA and intelligence life styles.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

American CIA Tom Bishop (Brad Pitt) has been captured near a Shanghai prison camp and will be executed if the United States does not ask for him. The United States plans on letting him go, but Bishop’s recruiter Nathan Muir (Robert Redford) has other plans.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to Director Tony Scott for directing efforts. Thank you to Executive Producers Armyan Bernstein, Thomas A. Bliss, James W. Skotchdopole, and Iain Smith for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Elizabeth Hadley (Catherine McCormack), Charles Harker (Stephen Dillane), Troy Folger (Larry Bryggman), Gladys Jennip (Marianne Jean-Baptiste), Dr. William Byars (Matthew Marsh), and Robert Aiken (Todd Boyce).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. This is a high class spy thriller.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers

UNSTOPPABLE (Theatrical Release USA 2010)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.5|5.0 Starsììì

Unstoppable—some good news and some bad news. The good news—action scenes are superb and characters are well done. The bad news—a few flat spots that revolve around the deaths of an engineer and injury of a main character. Overall? Thrilling, exciting with a few flat spots. It’s a ‘don’t-want-to-get-popcorn-until-the-movie-is-over’ flick.

Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

A train leaves the train yard under its own power without its brakes engaged.

Additional Thanks

Thank you to Director Tony Scott for directing efforts. Thank you to Executive Producers Chris Ciaffa, Jeff Kwatinetz, and Rick Yorn for making the film possible. Additional character/cast include: Frank (Denzel Washington), Will (Chris Pine), Connie (Rosario Dawson), Dewey (Ethan Suplee), Galvin (Kevin Dunn), Inspector Werner (Kevin Corrigan), Bunny (Kevin Chapman), Ned (Lew Temple), and Gilleece (T.J. Miller).

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe?

Yes. Unstoppable, another tribute to Director Tony Scott’s directing skill (Spy Games (1998), The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009), Man on Fire (2004)), defines the thriller/disaster movie genre.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers