Movie Review: Cocaine Cowboys

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

Documentary about how the cocaine trade industrialized the city of Miami.

The documentary hits on many characters that played a part such as the transporters, the South American cocaine plants, and the cocaine dealers.

The trade started off small, but grew quickly to a multi-million dollar project.

With drug money, came the establishment of banks catered to drug and a whole economy that was being fueled by drug money.

With million of money pouring in, different groups started to perpetrate violence on each other.

The violence soon included innocent bystanders.

Since Florida is surrounded by the ocean, it made it difficult to police the water from incoming drug trafficking.

When the US federal government stepped in, the drug trade finally started dip.

Final Thoughts:

Informative documentary about drug trafficking in Miami.

I couldn’t really find a logical transition from one story to the next.  I guess they could’ve done a better job with that.

Their are multiple stories and interviews with law enforcement, drug dealers, drug enforcers, and drug transporters.

At times I felt it dragged on and on.

Perhaps it would’ve benefit from some more editing.

Ratings:

3/5

Movie Review: Silmido

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

A korean movie based on true events.

31 imprisoned Korean convicts are sent to the Korean island of Silmido to go through harsh military training.  Their mission is to assassinate the North Korean president.  If they succeed they will be awarded medals of honor and prestige of uniting the North with the South.

Initially the training is brutal and the convicts hate their training sergeants.

Soon, they both start to form friendship, trust, and unity with each other.

After many months of training, the lieutenant deems the company to be ready for the mission, but as soon as they are sent out the Korean Intelligence Agency cancels the mission.

The lieutenant is frustrated and meets with the higher officials only to find that the North and South are no longer at war.  This means that the band of army-trained convicts is no longer needed.

The lieutenant receives orders to eliminate his whole company, because they don’t want the world to find out that they’ve been secretly training convicts to assassinate the North Korean president.

The convicts rebel and die using everything they learned in the camp.

Final Thoughts:

This whole movie reminds me of how it feels to wait for something to arrive only to be disappointed.

You spend weeks and months preparing.  You are ready, but someone tells you to hold on.  You do whatever you can to kill time, but at the same time try to be ready.  The waiting slowly kills your excitement and you become de-motivated with every passing day.

Despite it being mainly about a bunch of male prisoners being trained by harsh lieutenants, there are plenty of emotional scenes.

Imprisoned men yearning to gain freedom and finally do something right in their life.

Lieutenants who are willing to sacrifice their own lives to save the convicts.

Convicts who hated each other are backing each other up.

The ending was very nostalgic.

Ratings:

4/5, mainly because I was un-impressed with the beginning.  Only when they started training and bonding was I pulled into the whole experience.

Movie Review: The Burrowers

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

Western Sci-fi which takes place in a time where Indians and Cowboys are in constant conflict.

It starts out with a family being terrorized by what think are Indians.

The sheriff puts together a small army to find the family.

Soon they discover weird corpses that are buried underground by weird monsters called Burrowers.

Burrowers attack humans, inject poison into their bodies, and bury the bodies while the poison makes the human edible.

The only way to kill the Burrowers is with sunlight.

Final Thoughts:

The movie was quite slow during certain parts.  Anytime the burrowers came up, it got pretty intense.

I thought the back story of the burrowers was pretty cheesy.  According to one of the Indians, burrowers attacked humans because the “white” man has wiped clean all the only food source of the burrowers which is the buffalo.

I didn’t like the ending either because the protagonist finds out the only way to trap the burrowers is to poison them, but he never finds out what the poison is.  The only Indian that knew was hanged by the general.

It leaves you feeling that there could be a part II and I hate it when movies do that to you.

Rating:

3/5

Movie Review: Memories of Murder

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

Is a Korean crime-drama that is based on true events.

A serial rapist/killer leaves victims behind that are tied up using the victim’s under garments, raped, and then choked to death.

The rapist always attacks when it rains and also when a certain song is played on the radio.

The rain washes away all physical evidence and gives the investigators almost nothing to work with.

The song is a lead, but just because he kills when the song is on doesn’t mean he is the one requesting the song.

After going through multiple suspects, the movie ends with no one knowing who the rapist is.

Final Thoughts:

I found many scenes of the movie being lethargic and pointless, perhaps this is a portrayal of how un-eventful life can be.

It’s quite chilling to know that the serial killer might still be alive now, living amongst the korean community since he was never captured.

This is story of how incompetent cops can be and how elusive criminals can be.

Ratings:

2/5

Movie Review: Wreck It Ralph

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

Revolves around a bad guy who yearns to become a good guy.

He’s tired of the good guy getting all the attention.

The way he goes about doing this ends up causing chaos in the video game world, until he meets a video game glitch.

The two form a close bond and end up supporting each other through trials and tribulations.

The bond ends up changing both of them for the better.

Final Thoughts:

I really enjoyed this movie.

It’s an animated-movie that both children and adults can enjoy, especially if you played any video games when you were younger like myself.

I caught on to many of the video game jokes that only a gamer could get.

At the same time, I could relate to the protagonist’s issues because it is a universal issue of being left out, wanting to be part of the in crowd, and doing whatever it takes to make it happen.

The most important lesson I got from this movie is how nothing changes when he gets back to his world, but the fact that his attitude changes makes all the difference in the world.

He doesn’t mind being the bad guy now that he has formed a strong friendship with the video game glitch from another video game.

Rating:

5/5

Movie Review: Half Nelson

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

Drama revolving the life of a teacher, his student, and a drug dealer.

The teacher is a drug addict who gets caught doing drugs by his own student Drey.

The knowledge of his secret allows the two to connect on a level not many people can with the teacher.

For some reason, you are led to believe that the teacher would rather be alone then be with anyone.

Drugs is a common theme throughout the movie, with the teacher using it, Drey exposed to it, and Frank dealing it.

In one scene, the teacher asks Frank to leave Drey alone, but Frank brings up a good point of how the teacher isn’t the best role-model for Drey either.

In the end, you come to the conclusion that the reacher isn’t good for Drey, but Drey is good for the teacher.

Final Thoughts:

No-holds-bar type of movie that reveals the life of a drug addict who slowly loses everything to drugs.

Drugs dominates all his actions.  He sniffs it before going out and hitting on girls.  He sniffs it when he wants to escape for painful memories of his past.  He sniffs it right before making out with his date.

Drey has it tough too, having to look after herself in such a rough neighborhood.  She always puts on this tough face and of all the characters in the movie, she seems to be the maturest.

The ending doesn’t reveal if the teacher ever becomes drug-free.  It only reveals that the only person the teacher can truly depend on in regard to his drug problems may be Drey.

Rating:

5/5

Movie Review: Get The Gringo

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

Action film set in a Mexican prison which resembles more like a small city.

Mel Gibson is a thief who happens to be ex-military and con-artist.

He is thrown into jail because he stole some money.

He quickly becomes acquainted with a boy who has special privileges within the prison.

The boy is the only living person who has a blood type that is compatible with the prison head honcho who rules it with an iron fist.

Mel Gibson gets himself out of prison to kill the people who are after him in America.

Then he turns his sight back to the Mexican prison, kills the prison head honcho, and rescues the boy with his mom.

Final Thoughts:

Mel Gibson is presented with numerous obstacles that he always overcomes, which makes me feel skeptical throughout the movie.

Mel Gibson happens to be good at sniping, stealing, setting-up kills, catching grenades and throwing them back.

It just seems too good to be true.

But if you can put this one thing behind you, everything else makes up for a great action movie.

Story has multiple twists and turns.  You’re never left bored wondering when it’s going to end.  Mel’s friendship with the boy is amusing at times too.

You can’t help but wanting to root for the safe passage of the boy.

And Mel does a good job of being the good guy, even if he is the bad guy.

Ratings:

4/5

Movie Review: Waste Land

 

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

This is a documentary that takes you into the lower-class citizens of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

Renown contemporary artist wishes to return to his country and make a difference.  He wishes to use trash to create art.

He is aware of a land fill where a whole culture of people live.  They are called “pickers” and their job is to find recyclable materials such as plastic, paper, or glass to sell.

Initially, his expectations of the project were simple and straight forward.

But the moment he steps into the life of the “pickers”, he can’t help but get pulled into their world.

He meets key people who he decides to take portraits of, then he goes back to his studio and recreates the image using the material from the landfill.

Through his project he is able to sell the portraits for over $50,000.

All the money goes back to the “pickers” union organization.

Final Thoughts:

This is a movie that moves you, because in a way you can relate to the whole experience.

“Pickers” are down on themselves for not having a better job, while participating in the art project gives them pride and job in what they do.

Many don’t want to share what they do to friends and family.

The artist opens a whole new world to them that they could never experience without him.  At the same time, the pickers opens a new world of art that pushes the artist to reflect on his own life.

Waste land will have you reflecting on how lucky your own life is compared to those of the pickers.

Ratings:

5/5

Movie Review: Skyfall

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

James Bond is up against one of his own in this sequel.

Someone is out to destroy MI6’s headquarters and Bonds quickly discovers that it is a former MI6 agent Raoul Silva.

Silva’s intent is to kill M, because M had left Silva behind in an operation.

Silva intends goes after M while she is in the middle of a trial.

Bond saves her and brings her to his hometown of Skyfall because it is the only place that Silva cannot infiltrate with his technology.

Silva comes with a band of baddies and everyone gets killed, except for Bond of course.

Final Thoughts:

I definitely enjoy Skyfall and all the Daniel Craig’s James Bond’s movie.  His movie relies more on fist fights, run gunning, and chases as opposed to silly gadgets.

In previous James Bonds movies, sometimes you have to wonder would he be anything without his gadgets.

Daniel Craig shows you that his two fists and a small pistol is all he needs to set the whole screen on fire.

Definitely, enjoyed the character development in this movie with emphasis on M, Penny, James Bond, Q, and Kincade.

I also want to point out that this movie could’ve ended in the courtroom and I would’ve no complaints.  The whole stand-off at Skyfall was just cream on top of the cake.

Ratings:  

5/5

Movie Review: Elite Squad – The Enemy Within

***Spoiler Alert***

Synopsis:

This is a Brazilian movie that centers around SWAT teams that are meant to battle drug overlords who control neighborhoods and slums.

Within a prison that holds all the different drug lords, a rebellion quickly escalates where all the drug lords kill each other leaving the city without anyone to control it.

Dirty cops quickly see the opportunity and start to run the slums as if they were the drug overlords.

Dirty cops are taken down when the head of the SWAT teams finds out about their hidden scheme.  He takes out all the dirty cops and all the government officials.

Final Thoughts:

The movie is driven more by corruption in the police department and government officials then by action or gun fights.

The ending kind of leaves you feeling like nothing is really changed.  Certain evil men are dead, but in their place others rise to replace them.

Perhaps that is the point of the whole movie.

Ratings:

4/5