Assassins (1995)

Sylvester Stallone is a hired Assassin in the film written by the Wachoski's and directed by Richard Donner. He is number one in his profession, you join him taking a mark out in to the swamp, another professional he has been tasked with killing. You have Antonio Banderas a younger Assassin who knows Sylvester Stallone is number one and he wants to be number one. You have Julianne Moore a hacker that comes between them as a target and from there the story unfolds as Stallone realises what she has and decides to use it to get out of the business.

The film comes to a conclusion outside a small white bank in a tropical location and it is strange finish as Stallone knows what will happen as it is a similar situation that he previously went through when he took the number one spot. Now this is an interesting story but he knows what is going to happen so well and can tell exactly what Banderas is going to do I don’t know why he did not make more sure of what he was trying. Thinking about the end of the film it was not very clear and while gripping in a tension filled way too much thought about how they do it makes it seem silly.

This film is enjoyable enough to watch and appreciate a couple of the gun fights but it is not high entertainment and is typical 90’s Stallone action driven fare. Would only recommend to people who enjoy this sort of film and think that from my brief description you will know if it is for you or not. Overall this is a 5 out of 10 film, not worth going out of your way to get but worth seeing especially for free.

Jumanji (1995)

Film of 2012 #51

So if you found a board game in the dirt and it sounded like it was playing the drums would you play it? This is the basic premise of the family comedy starring Robin William, Bonnie Hunt, Kirsten Dunst and Bradley Pierce. Who all end up playing a game that has disasterous effects and they have to keep playing to reach the end. I do not remember this film coming out and do not know if it was a massive success but it has a small place of family joy in my heart. You have a story of a bullied school boy, Alan who fancies a girl and gets her to come over to his house and they play a game that he finds, there is a nice joke as it is in the 60's that ther must be magnets which in the 90's it is suggested it must be micro chips. Anyway Alan gets sucked into the game and when he comes out he is Robin Williams.

This follows the story as Kirsten Dunst and her younger brother whose parents have died recently find the game and continue where the sixites kids left it. It is a family film with plenty of action some dodgy CGI and a fun fast paced stoyline that makes little sense but is still alot of fun. There is a nice epilogue to the film as well that really brings home the family nature of the film.

This is a film I have seen several times and would re-watch it and I am happy to reccomend it, there are some slightly dark scenes for the younger audience but at the heart it is a coming of age film that gives the main characters a second chance at life. This is a solid three star recommend if you have not seen it yet.

Outbreak (1995)

Film of 2012 #45

Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Cuba Gooding Jnr and an Infected monkey, what is not to like about this film? If you have seen the recent Contagion which I looked at here, then this is the predecessor to that done on a different scale. It takes the idea of a monkey illegally brought into the country and given to Patrick Dempsey and subsequently released into the wild and the fact that this monkey carries a highly infectious, highly deadly disease that through the course of a serious of unfortunate events goes airborne and spreads through a small US town. You follow Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo a recently separated couple, he works for the Army and she is at the Centre of Disease Control and they are both involved in doing the same job, identifying, curing and controlling Infectious diseases.

This is small scale compared to Contagion as it focuses on a small town and only a few characters and does not explore the larger implications but does have a slight feel of the Crazies as you see a lot from the military's point of view and the lengths they are willing to go to contain the disease. You have an excellent supporting cast with Donald Sutherland, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey. Another film that has flaws and falls in to the trap of if you think about the timescales too much you realise it is a movie based requirement to make the timescales impossible and the likelihood of success impossible which makes it more tense and exciting from a film watching perspective but logical brains cannot always accept this and just think of as ridiculous.

I enjoy this and wish that Cuba Gooding Jnr had done more roles like this as he is really likeable and I always want him to succeed in whatever role he is in. This film in itself is good if you like the idea of an outbreak and seeing where it can spread to and if you enjoyed Contagion it is worth revisiting this film which I give a 3 star recommend.