Review: Fast Five

Fast Five is the newest entry in the Fast and the Furious franchise. Fast Five picks up literally where 2009's Fast and Furious left off. After freeing Dominic Toretto(Vin Diesel) from his one way ticket to federal prison, his sister Mia(Jordana Brewster), and longtime rival/friend Brian O'Conner arrive in Rio de Janeiro to wait for Dom. While there they pick up a job stealing some cars, but they are not alone in this as the one who organized the job is none other than Vince (You may remember him from the first movie). Everything seems to go well and on the morning of the job Dominic shows up to lend a hand. As the heist takes place things go horribly awry and this places our protagonists on the short list of Rio's well known businessman/crime boss Hernan Reyes. Unfortunately for Reyes, the people he's dealing with aren't new to this game and aren't easily threatened and to make things worse for him, they bring along a lot of familiar faces for the ride. To top it all off you have a strong willed federal agent Hobbs(Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson) hot on their heels.

Fast Five is quite possibly the best film in the Fast and Furious franchise. It has everything you could want from this type of movie and more. I will be honest and safely say that this movie is not in danger of being nominated for any sort of Oscar or Golden Globe Award. With all of that said though this film works. The acting is par for the course, but all the familiar faces from the past movies are here. The stunt work and CG is some of best I've seen. The car chase sequences are bigger and better than the past four movies combined.

The actually story and path that the movie takes interests me even more. This film has plenty of familiar things, car chases, humor, scantily clad women, and too much more to list. The one place where Fast Five stands head and shoulders above the other films in the franchise is the fact that it attempts to show the more human side of the characters. I noticed more screen time was spent focusing on the protagonists and their interactions with one another than on the action sequences and I have to admit i liked that. I believe that if the franchise continues in that direction it will garner more attention and gain more fans while strengthening the existing fan base.

Overall, Fast Five is one of the best movies I have seen in the past six months and is definitely the best in the franchise. If you're a fan of the series you have to go see this one and if you're not perhaps you should give it a chance and ......

GO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. Stay after the credits to see a special scene that will blow your mind!!!!

Review: The Lincoln Lawyer

The Lincoln Lawyer is a griping thriller based on the Michael Connelly novel of the same name. It stars Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller a criminal defense attorney who represents wealthy clients that are less than savory. Oddly enough he has no office to speak of as he does all of his dealings out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car. The next case he takes, the one that sets up the movie's events, is that of a wealthy young man named Louis Roulet(Ryan Phillippe). Roulet has been accused of assaulting a woman in her home, that woman turns out to be a "lady of the night". On the surface it appears that this is a straightforward case with Roulet being set up by the prostitute, but as Haller delves deeper into the case he soon finds himself in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.

The Lincoln Lawyer is a top notch crime drama/thriller. Matthew McConaughey's Mickey Haller is one of the most likable characters I have seen in recent movies. The way that he plays the character is that of a man who knows the injustices of the judicial system. His most prevalent flaw is the fact that he exploits this for the gain of his client's which he mostly thinks/knows are guilty. Even with this glaring negative it's hard not to like him. Throughout the movie Mickey goes through a transformation which betters him as a human being, but that change isn't going to change overnight.

The other character that stood out for me the most was Louis Roulet. Ryan Phillippe was able to start out as a scared young socialite and effortlessly transitions into a more sinister, antagonistic character. The rest of the star studded cast which includes; Marisa Tomei, William H. Macy and John Leguizamo performed well and helped fully immerse me in the story.

The story was well written and the pacing of the film was perfect. Whenever I found my mind on the verge of wanting to wandering off, the film would throw what I thought I knew right out of the window and hook me back in. I have no real complaint about the movie, the actors or the way it all played out.

Overall, The Lincoln Lawyer is one of the best crime drama/thrillers that I have seen in the past few years. If you have the money and the chance to see it you should definitely....

.........GO NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!