Wednesday 23 December 2015

Reclaim (2014)


Tagline: You can't put a price on family/ Reclaim what's yours
Cusack plays: Benjamin

I'm calling the movie poster as a little misleading, as at no point are there ever any helicopters hovering over a lit up city...

Rounding off the year by getting up to date with the Cusack challenge and this little action number, which is a step up from my last watch, The Prince.  The blurb for this one is that a couple head to Puerto Rico to adopt a little girl, who has been orphaned as a result of the earthquake in Haiti. They have a jolly holiday on the beach as they wait for their ADORABLE (honestly, I lost track of how many times she was described as adorable) little girl's passport to be processed. They bump into Cusack, apparently holidaying at their result (LOOK OUT HE'S VAPING/SMOKING A GIANT CIGAR) and after the husband (Ryan Phillipe) has a bust up in a bar, the adorbs wee gal goes missing.




As can be ascertained by the trailer, they have fallen victim to a 'reclaim' scam, where the fake adoption agency has taken the child and loads of their money. They really should have guessed, as Jacki Weaver as the adoption agency lady just screams dodgy to me. The story continues by adding another layer, bringing in the couples past etc, with Cusack's role as chief baddie increasing. I am starting to wonder if he is playing the bad guy so he gets to smoke. Or maybe it's just more fun.

So, this isn't a great film, but its alright and  probably worth a watch. Towards the most dramatic parts I even stopped playing Candy Crush/eating Quality Street and gave it my full attention. So y'know, reasonable praise.

Here's a trailer that basically shows you the entire film if you don't have a spare 90 minutes.





Tuesday 22 December 2015

The Prince (2014)



Tagline: Mercy is for the weak
Cusack plays: Sam

Another release which bypassed a cinema release and headed straight to DVD/Netflix/Amazon Prime et al.  Of the 3 men on the poster, Willis and Cusack have really small parts, and only show up 34 and 50 mins into the 90 minute feature. So Jason Patric is the 'star' of this run around, shoot at things, emote, repent barrel of fun.

The film begins with a flashback to crime lord Bruce Willis (seemingly sporting a CGI beard and/or face) seeing his wife and child get blown up in a car.  20 years or so later, mechanic Jason Patric is chatting with his college aged daughter on Skype. She then disappears, and he has to go investigate what has happened to her, aided by his daughter's sexy friend.




*MILD SPOILERS INCASE YOU WANT TO WATCH THIS RUBBISH* So we find out that Jason Patric was the one who killed Willis' family - but he's not a total bad guy, he was only planning to blow up Willis. So I assumed that Willis has kidnapped his daughter as revenge, but this was not the case, so not as predictable as it could have been. Instead shes been 'kidnapped' by Drug dealer 'The Pharmacy' played by 50 Cent. In coming to look for her he reappears on Willis' radar, he gets interested in going after the daughter and ALL THE GUNS come out.

Cusack wanders in at the 50 minute mark, as Patric's old friend (?) who he entrusts with looking after his daughters friend while he goes off to the gun shop etc. Cusack is in serious whisper mode, mumbling something about Hadrian's Wall and why Patric is known as 'The Prince'. Later he shoots some guns and lights up a giant cigar for no reason (cooler looking than the vaping of previous films).

This is just a bad film, full stop. There is nothing and no one to care about, no story to get invested in, and the only mild amusement I found was in them naming a drug dealer 'The Pharmacy', and that the missing daughter was called Beth Brennan - the name of the character Natalie Imbruglia played in Neighbours in the early 1990s. (If only I could empty my mind of useless facts like this, I could take over the world).