Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Peppermint Directed by Pierre Morel Written by Chad St John This idea of a female out for revenge is not a new one.  It was done before by Uma Thurman in the Kill Bill films, and many other films explore this concept as well.  Now given the idea of a woman losing her family to a drug cartel drive by is a decent idea to setup a revenge film.   The director previously did Taken which reignited Liam Neeson’s career into action films, and he also directed the wonderfully fantastic film From Paris With Love.  … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Mile 22 Directed by Peter Berg Written by Lea Carpenter and Graham Roland The influence of Asian Cinema in Hollywood films is a welcome change of pace to see shake up what has lately become boring rinse and repeat action scenes we have come to expect from Hollywood.  In an Asian action film, the hero can die.  In fact having a glorious death is a trademark.  Yet this film falls flat in some poor choices made in the story which could have elevated this film to an epic status.  Now there are things to … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Skyscraper Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber Written by Rawson Marshall Thurber Many people will call this film a Die Hard wanna be.  In actuality the comparisons are few, but the film suffers from many storyline issues and relies so heavily on Dwayne Johnson’s charisma and screen presence to carry this film.  In their attempt to give Dwayne’s portrayal of Will Sawyer with some questions to his abilities to carry action with his amputated leg from an operation that went bad, just falls flat literally and figuratively. Here comes the spoilers. In Hong Kong, a … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West The Equalizer 2 Directed by Antoine Fuqua Written by Richard Wenk Denzel and Fuqua have made some great films together.  Training Day won Denzel his Oscar.  In 2014, they gave us the first Equalizer film and it was a surprise hit to see a former agent with a penchant for timing his fights and pre-calculating every move like a chess player.  This was unique because the character Denzel plays, Robert McCall, uses everything in his surroundings as weapons.  It can be a teapot, a chair, or even bags of flour.  With a solid first … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Mission Impossible:  Fallout Directed by Christopher McQuarrie Written by Christopher McQuarrie At 56 years old, age is showing across Tom Cruise’s face.  Yet he still manages to convince us he is still capable of doing all of his own stunts on screen.  Mission Impossible films have always raised the bar on the daring stunts Cruise does as Ethan Hunt.  It is largely what propels the set pieces and action, leaving little room for any hugely intriguing storyline.  Yet this film is written and directed by the same guy who delivered the previous Mission Impossible … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Ant-Man and the Wasp Directed by Peyton Reed Written by Chris McKenna, Erik Sommers, Paul Rudd, Andrew Barrer, and Gabriel Ferrari The first Ant-man film introduced us to Hank Pym (Michael Douglas), his daughter Hope van Dyne (Evangeline Lilly), and Scott Lang (Paul Rudd).  In that film Scott robbed the antman suit from Hank Pym and we discovered along with Scott the Quantum Realm which is when you go sub-atomic in size.  This plays huge in this film’s plot.  The writers on this film made sure to make light fun of the pseudo-science talk … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Sicario:  Day of the Soldado Directed by Stefano Sollima Written by Taylor Sheridan   The first Sicario staring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro, and Josh Brolin gave us a gritty across the border and back look at drug cartels and the US government’s involvement to meddle and control them.  In this sequel, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin are back and this time there are no rules as Brolin’s Matt Graver character comments at one point in this film.  Sadly there are some rules.  This perhaps is what makes the second half of the … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Solo:  A Star Wars Story Directed by Ron Howard Written by Jonathan Kasdan and Lawrence Kasdan For decades the character of Han Solo as played by Harrison Ford has long been a huge fan favorite character from George Lucas’ Star Wars films.  A sort of rebel without a cause attitude, and a fly by the seat of his pants life is what really draws fans to his character.  So with a film that intends to show us how the man we know as Han Solo become to be; needless to say the bar is … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Ocean’s 8 Directed by Gary Ross Written by Gary Ross and Olivia Milch George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh had a successful series run with the Ocean’s films that managed to make several films with all male cast that now Hollywood decided it is time for the ladies to gang up.  In this film we have Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Mindy Kaling, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Rihanna, and Awkwafina take on a heist of jewels at the Met Gala.  It is a heist with a revenge plot, and pretty straightforward story.  The … Continue reading

Writing Movie “WRONGS” By Jim West Deadpool 2 Directed by David Leitch Written by Fresh off the mixed bag that was Avengers Infinity War and going up against the latest regurgitation from Disney for a standalone Star Wars film, Deadpool had only one job to do and that was entertain.  This film does it in spades.  Serving up not only issues with the Marvel Superhero films, but they also give the DC films their fair shots.  The writers did a great job cramming in so many easter eggs and references galore that it often feels like it is a film … Continue reading