Posts Tagged ‘Michael Fassbender’

Short Take: Arguably what "Salt" or "Columbiana" should have been

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Screenwriter: Lem Dobbs

Cast: Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Channing Tatum, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Angarano, Bill Paxton

Length: 1h 33m

Synopsis: In a world where you live only for as long as you can defend yourself against stiff physical assaults and the occasional poor judgment of character, there exists Mallory (Carano). A freelancing black ops agent of sorts, her dedication, awareness, savvy, and tenacity have made her one of the most sought after of her kind. After a rescue mission that didn’t go as smoothly as it should have, she begins to suspect that one of her more frequent employers, known only as Kenneth (McGregor), has been planning to set her up for failure. As a test, Mallory takes up his newest assignment where she’ll be working with another agent named Paul (Fassbender), who it turns out is in fact part of a double-cross. Surviving the betrayal placed a giant target on her back, and now she’s on the run looking to clear her name and get revenge on those responsible.

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Short Take: Action packed and emotionally arresting. Rivals "X2" for best of the series.

Director: Matthew Vaughn

Screenwriters: Ashley Miller, Zack Stentz, Jane Goldman, Matthew Vaughn – Sheldon Turner and Bryan Singer (story)

Cast: James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, Kevin Bacon, Rose Byrne, January Jones

Length: 2h 12m

Synopsis: It is 1963 and the world is still largely unaware of the presence of mutants. This is not to say that they are few in number, but most are still very much in the closet. There are a few, however, that are not shy about their abilities. Sebastian Shaw (Bacon), an ex-Nazi who ran the concentration camp where Erik Lehnsherr (Fassbender) was separated from his family, is a mutant who is trying to manipulate the American and Soviet governments into nuclear war. Meanwhile, mutants Charles Xavier (McAvoy) and Lehnsherr are attempting to recruit a special team of fellow gifted individuals to stop Shaw before it’s too late. But while Xavier is determined to avoid violent methods whenever possible, Erik is looking to get revenge on his former captor by any means necessary. How their battle concludes will not only affect how mutants will be looked at for years to come – as friends or foes – but whether humans will continue to outnumber mutants across the world.

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Short Take: Entertaining but sorely underdeveloped - It could have been considerably better

Director: Jimmy Hayward (Horton Hears a Who!)

Screenwriter: Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor (Gamer, Crank: High Voltage)

Cast: Josh Brolin (Milk, No Country for Old Men), Megan Fox (Jennifer’s Body, Transformers), John Malkovich (Burn After Reading, Changeling), Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds, Fish Tank, 300)

Length: 1 hour 23 minutes

Synopsis: The film begins with former Confederate soldier Jonah Hex (Brolin) forced to watch his wife and son burn to death at the hands of former friend Quentin Turnbull (Malkovich).  Left for dead, Hex is found and revived by a group of Crow Indians, but he’s a changed man.  Not only does he literally bear a brand of Turnbull’s betrayal on his face, but his travels between death and life left him with some unique abilities.  Hex can seemingly survive any number of bullet wounds and revive the dead for short periods of time with a single touch.  Hex devotes his life to taking revenge on Turnbull and when the U.S. government asks for his help in stopping Turnbull from using a powerful weapon against innocent citizens during the nation’s centennial celebration, he must find him before time runs out. Read the rest of this entry »