Action Archives - Page 10 of 21 - Channel Guide Magazine

VOD Spotlight: “Colombiana” continues Luc Besson’s theme of the powerful female action hero

December 20, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

Producer Luc Besson is well known for his films featuring strong, powerful, but emotionally damaged women. The latest entry in this oeuvre is Colombiana, starring Zoe Saldana (Avatar) as an assassin focused on avenging the murder of her parents. “When Luc approached me to star in the movie, I asked him what it was about. He said, ‘It’s as if Mathilda (from Léon/The Professional) is all grown up and became an assassin,’” says Saldana. “That was it; I was in. It hit all the beats of a classic revenge film, but it was also compelling and very moving.” Besson wrote […]

VOD Spotlight: “Warrior” stars Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as two underdogs worth rooting for

December 20, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

Warrior pits brother against brother, as both train for a championship — and a $5 million prize — in a mixed-martial-arts (MMA) fight. Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy, pictured left, of Inception and the upcoming The Dark Knight Rises) and his mother escaped an abusive father and, after his mother’s death, he joined the Marines. His brother, Brendan (Joel Edgerton, Animal Kingdom, pictured right), chose to stay with his father so he could be close to his girlfriend, Tess, who he married. Years later, the brothers confront each other as they train for the fight of their lives.

VOD Spotlight: Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford in the genre-blending “Cowboys & Aliens”

December 6, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

Classic Westerns are filled with familiar situations and characters — ironhanded sheriffs and outlaws, and clannish townsfolk who fear the Indians and distrust outsiders. Cowboys & Aliens, based on a graphic novel series, has all of these, and more. As the title of the film suggests, the Southwest town of Absolution ain’t seen nothing yet! Producer Ron Howard was sold on making the film from the comic’s cover art, showing a cowboy on horseback fleeing from a spaceship hovering above him. “It was everything I hoped for: the coolest version of the West meeting some badass aliens,” Howard says of […]

VOD Spotlight: “30 Minutes or Less” leaps from the “Black List” to the screen

November 29, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

In the action-comedy 30 Minutes or Less, Nick (Jesse Eisenberg) is a small-town pizza delivery guy whose mundane life collides with the big plans of two wannabe criminal masterminds (Danny McBride and Nick Swardson). The volatile duo kidnaps Nick and forces him to rob a bank. With mere hours to pull off the impossible task, Nick enlists the help of his ex-best friend, Chet (Aziz Ansari). As the clock ticks, the two must deal with the police, hired assassins, flamethrowers and their own tumultuous relationship. For the film, star Eisenberg reunited with his Zombieland director, Ruben Fleischer. For his part, […]

VOD Spotlight: The latest incarnation of “Conan the Barbarian” keeps the pulp

November 22, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

Ever since being created by Robert E. Howard in a series of fantasy stories published in Weird Tales magazine starting in 1932, Conan the Barbarian has been a fixture in popular culture, and arguably ushered in the beginning of sword-and-sorcery/heroic fantasy fiction, which would spawn everything from The Lord of the Rings to Dungeons & Dragons. Outside of books and magazines, Conan has found himself and his adventures featured in comic books, video games, collectible card games, animated TV series and, probably naturally, in role-playing games. But the majority of audiences are probably familiar with him from his 1980s exploits […]

VOD Spotlight: Dominic Cooper with a challenging, multi-role performance in “The Devil’s Double”

November 18, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

The Devil’s Double began as an astonishing autobiographical tale of the same name, written by Latif Yahia, who was ripped from his family and forced to become the fiday (which roughly translates to “bullet catcher”) for Saddam Hussein’s lunatic son Uday. The book was a glimpse into the deeply depraved web of fast cars, endless money, easy women, pure corruption and wanton violence in which Yahia was captive for years. Once producers secured the rights to the book, enlisted screenwriter Michael Thomas (Scandal, Backbeat) to translate the story to film and found a director in Lee Tamahori (Once Were Warriors), […]

VOD Spotlight: Matthew Lewis talks “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2”

November 11, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

By Karl J. Paloucek Follow @ChannelGuideK The Harry Potter gang has truly grown up. It’s been a long and dark road full of magic, peril and more than a little growth — both personal and physical — for the young wizards at Hogwarts. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 presents the final showdown with Voldemort, and — for the unimaginable few reading this who haven’t read the books or seen the film yet — at what can only be described as the most crucial scene in the story, that paragon of not-being-so-sure-of-himself, Neville Longbottom, played by Matthew Lewis […]

VOD Spotlight: “Captain America: The First Avenger” gives Cap his proper film treatment

October 25, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

By Jeff Pfeiffer Follow @ChannelGuideJP Maybe it takes a certain national climate to do a Captain America film right. Since his comic-book origins in 1941, on the eve of America’s entry into World War II, the Marvel Comics hero has been the subject of a few filmmaking attempts that have not been very successful. He was in some 1940s cliffhanger serials, some dreadful 1970s made-for-TV efforts and a 1990 theatrical film that started with a good idea but came crashing down quickly, mainly thanks to its very low budget. But Captain America: The First Avenger finally gives Cap (played by […]

VOD Spotlight: “Green Lantern”

October 14, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

As any fan of the Green Lantern comic series knows, the plots concern the clash between fear and will. And for star Ryan Reynolds (The Proposal), who plays Hal Jordan in the film Green Lantern, there was a great deal of will needed while making the movie because his role of a test pilot turned intergalactic superhero required he overcome his own fear of flying, beginning with his transport to the Lantern home planet of Oa.

VOD Spotlight: The cars of “Fast Five”

October 4, 2011 Jeff Pfeiffer Comments Off

“Top gear and full throttle” is a phrase that most speed demons only dream of in our 65-mph world, but the romance of speed fuels The Fast and the Furious films. In the fifth installment of the roaring franchise, Fast Five, the stakes are even higher and the stunts more awe-inspiring. At the heart of the speed-driven film is the 1970 Dodge Charger that Dom (Vin Diesel) drives. It killed Dom’s father and was totaled twice, but, like the Terminator, it keeps coming back. Picture car coordinator — yes, a film like this needs someone with that title — Dennis […]