“A Good Day To Die Hard”

Reviewed by Rachel Zemanek

Yippee ki-yay motherf—–!!

I’m not going to lie and say that I wasn’t excited for another John McClane action film. I will openly admit to being a fan of the New York super cop and his adrenaline-fueled catch phrases.

However, I was sitting in the theater watching the fourth in the Die Hard series. I took expository notes that eventually read, “Russia, hot Asian chick, pay phones, tight leather suits on a girl riding a motorcycle.” The cliché quota had been reached in the first 20 minutes.

The directors were probably trying to create a hybrid family-action film with the relationship between father and son.

But let’s be real here, if your dad is in three serious car accidents in about an hour, you don’t threaten to kill him for saving your life. Talk about overdoing it.

Let’s mention real quickly how taking a trip to Russia to save your son, who is being accused of murder, probably won’t end well.

Mr. McClane more than likely knew that, but somehow he managed to make it exponentially worse for both his son and himself by messing up a three-year undercover CIA operation and basically blowing up Moscow. Oh, and jumping onto a moving helicopter full of uranium in Chernobyl.

All is well, though, when the father and son duo save the day by jumping out a window as a helicopter filled with lethal toxins crashes into a radiation filled building. The family reunites and walks off into the sunset. How cute.

I expected the guns-a-blazin’ but the clichés and the superspy stuff just didn’t sit well. Overall, super cop McClane and son get two out of five stars.

Rating: 2 out of 5

“Dark Skies”

Reviewed by Reghan Jameson

The film, “Dark Skies,” has proven one thing: aliens have officially crash-landed their way back into theaters.

Just when we all thought the unidentifiable species fad had weaseled it’s way out of the box office, “Signs” showed up with “The Fourth Kind” following suit. And now, “Dark Skies” is entertaining as the third recent film to incorporate little green men.

Director Scott Stewart, known for his visual effects work on films such as “Legion,” “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” and “Sin City,” has clearly done some reflecting on his work for “Mars Attacks.” Only this time, the aliens are a bit subtler, they don’t have shiny guns, and their heads aren’t as big.

Josh Hamilton and Golden Globe-winner Keri Russel play the role of two financially struggling middle-class parents, whose main concern is keeping up on their mortgage and maintaining the bills. But as soon as their youngest son Sammy, played by Kadan Rockett, starts getting visits from extraterrestrials, the family’s sanity gets a little dicey.

The majority of the film keeps to a slow pace, but sticks to all the typical thriller rules: from including a young, troubled kid who’s petrified by a childhood monster, to characters refusing to turn the lights on at appropriate times. But, as the movie picked up, viewers were hiding their faces and screeching, all good signs pointing to a decently scary time.

With a star cast, the film has grossed a moderately deserved $9,158,428 at the box office. And although it’s not a killer film that keeps its viewers up at night, it is good enough to waste an afternoon on.

Rating: 3 out of 5

“Snitch”

Reviewed by Justin Basset

John Matthews, an average family man and business owner, is suddenly heaved into the dangerous world of drug trafficking to free his son from the perils of prison.

Actor Dwayne Johnson stars in Ric Roman Waugh’s newly released movie, “Snitch,” based on true events.

It’s a tale of Matthews, a hard working construction owner, whose son is arrested for being set up in a drug deal gone wrong.

Once Matthews hears word of the legal matters his son may soon face, he decides to take action into his own hands inducing a dangerous outcome for him and his loved ones.

Though this movie was considered an action thriller, it felt more dramatic than anything else. With only quick shotgun bursts of blood pumping action, it was a little difficult to stay awake.

The theatre was bare enough to hear a cricket, and yawns were heard throughout the showing of the film.

Even if “Snitch” seemed to have drained the life force out of its viewers in the Camino Real theatre, it was still entertaining. Could it wait until it comes out on DVD? Absolutely.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5