The A-Team (2010)

Liam Neeson, Bradley Cooper, Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, Sharlto Copley

Directed by Joe Carnahan

Rating: 3 stars

Hannibal (Neeson), Face (Cooper), B.A. Baracus (Jackson), and Murdock (Copley) make up the A-Team. They've become a group of friends like a dysfunctional family. A few years after they first grouped together, they get put on a mission to recover plates for printing 100 dollar bills used to print a billion dollars. After accomplishing the job, their commander gets killed in an explosion and as a result the A-Team gets court martialed. Each member gets sent to a separate prison but six months later a C.I.A agent (Patrick Wilson) comes to Hannibal to help him get his team back together and recover the stolen plates.

A re-make of the original show, The A-Team is an entertaining movie with a well-picked cast. The first time I saw this movie in theaters, I thought it was great. However, upon viewing this movie a second time months later, I felt that it was more of a three-star movie. The movie has an interesting plot line and there are some funny scenes in it (like when each A-Team member is breaking out of jail). This is the kind of movie where no improvements or edits could make it into a four-star movie. It's entertaining and I would recommend this movie to people who like the above actors, comedies, or don't know what to watch. Would I buy this movie?  Personally, I wouldn't but I would like to rent it again sometime.

Watchmen

Malin Akerman, Billy Crudup, Matthew Goode, Jackie Earle Haley, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Patrick Wilson

Directed by Zack Snyder

Rating: 4 stars

"Who watches the Watchmen?"

In an alternate 1985 where superheroes existed, someone is killing off the vigilantes one by one. The second generation of Watchmen were forced to retire under a law banning masks. Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley) is suspicious that someone is killing off the Watchmen and goes on his own to find the culprit. On the other hand, Dr. Manhattan (Billy Crudup) is helping Adrian Veidt (Matthew Goode) on a secret project while America is counting down on the clock to Doomsday, where America is under a nuclear missile threat by Russia.

Watchmen is a movie brilliantly put together. From the special effects to the plot, the director, Zack Snyder, did an overall great job. Though the film is missing some parts from the graphic novel, it stayed pretty faithful to the book. I read the graphic novel after watching the movie and it was so easy to picture it. I would recommend going to the library or buying it. The cast was picked pretty good and they look close to how the characters are portrayed in the novel. Though Watchmen might feel like a bit of a long movie (about two and-a-half hours) it's not a painful length. I really liked it and I would recommend this movie to people who liked 300 or the Dark Knight. Watchmen, for the most part, is full of action and keeps the dialogue going. However, it is rated R for a good reason. The violence is a bit too strong for anyone under sixteen and there are two sex scenes as well as language. Overall, the movie was really good but I would be careful as to letting anyone younger than sixteen view this film.