Denzel Washington & Ryan Reynolds? Gotta see this one then! Safe House is  2012 political action thriller directed by Daniel Espinosa, starring Washington & Reynolds and co-starring Vera Farminga, Brendan Gleeson with small roles for Joel Kinnaman & Robert Patrick. The movie deals with the corrupt world of international espionage and the dealings of the CIA.

Tobin Frost is a an ex-CIA agent turned international criminal, acquires a file from renegade MI6 agent Alec Wade. Attacked by the mercenary Vargas, he enters an American consulate and is moved to a CIA safe house in Cape Town, South Africa. The safe house is managed by Matt Weston, a low-level CIA agent who is itching for some action and would relish a meatier assignment than being a “housekeeper” for a safe house. He watches from the one way mirror as veteran agent  Daniel Kiefer interrogates Frost and subjects him to waterboarding.  Vargas and his men attack the house, killing off all the CIA agents, save for Weston who was asked to keep an eye on Frost. Weston & Frost escapes in a vehicle the former commanders and Weston contacts his mentor, David Barlow, at CIA headquarters. Catherine Linklater, another CIA operative, intercepts the call and orders Weston to lie low and call back later.

Weston hides Frost in a hotel room and then calls his French girlfriend Ana, who doesn’t know about Matt being a CIA agent. Barlow later tells Weston to go to a football stadium and retrieve a  GPS device with the location of a nearby safe house. At the stadium Frost fakes his abduction and cop arrest the two of them. Frost escapes his apprehends by killing them, leaving Weston to fight his way out and track him in the stadium crowd but is unable to capture him back. Weston is ordered to visit the nearest American embassy for debriefing. Instead he meets with Ana, where he reveals that he is a CIA agent and sends her away for her safety. He then finds out about Carlos Villar, a forger who lives in a shanty town and is an old contact of Frost. At Villar’s house, Vargas and his men shoot and kill the forger and his family but Weston is able to help Frost to escape in his vehicle.  They learn that Vargas is actually working for the CIA, which is seeking to retrieve the files Frost received from Wade. It is revealed that the files contain detailed information of corrupt activities by many intelligence agencies, including the CIA itself, and that Weston’s own superiors may be implicated.

Weston takes Frost to the safe house where he is attacked by the “house keeper” there. Injured and bloodied, he pleads to Frost not to leave him behind and then faints. When he comes to Barlow, who is Vargas’s employer and has killed Linklater, is sitting by his side He confirms that the file contains incriminating evidence against him, and encourages Weston to lie about what has happened. Frost returns to rescue Weston by killing Vargas and his men but is shot by Barlow. Weston then shoots Barlow in the chest, killing him. Frost gives Weston the file and tells him he is better than Frost before he dies from his injuries. Weston makes his way back to the US and goes to Langley,  meets with CIA Deputy Director Harlan Whitford, who informs Weston that unflattering facts about the CIA must be removed from his report, but that he will be promoted. He asks Weston about the file which Matt feigns ignorance about denies having been told about it by Frost. Whitford states that whoever has those files will have many enemies. Weston leaves, then leaks the files to the Internet, incriminating personnel from many intelligence agencies, including Whitford. As the movie ends, we see Weston meeting Ana in Paris, making eye contact before disappearing.

Intriguing and engaging although I found the production could have been a bit better. I still liked the movie a lot; 8 out of 10!

I’m trying to watch anything that has Jason Segel in it. I like this actor and find his stuff funny. Jeff, Who Lives At Home is a comedy movie written & directed by Jay & Mark Duplass. The movie stars Segel with Ed Helms, Susan Sarandon, Judy Greer & Rae Dawn Chong. Don’t expect a slap stick, laugh a minute, pee in your pants rib tickler. This is a sweet, laid back comedy and very whimsical in nature. If you like those kind of movies, remember that it isn’t for everyone, yet those who like it will love this movie.

Jeff is a slacker, pot smoking former high school basketball player who now spends his days smoking weed, obsessing about the movie Signs and lying on his couch in his mom’s basement. His brother Pat is a somewhat obnoxious middle management level employee who is obsessed with image. His marriage to Linda is failing as he buys a Porsche, without discussing with her and she blows a fuse. Their mother Sharon is a widowed woman who is frustrated with her sons, especially Jeff’s refusal to do anything with his life, longing for something interesting in her life. One morning Jeff gets a call on his phone by someone asking for a ‘Kevin’ and when Jeff says there is no Jeff there, the call shouts at him.

Despite it being a wrong number he will soon follow things & signs with the name Kevin it it. He heads out to a store after his mother nags at him over the phone to fix a shutter at home befre she comes back home that day, incidentally her birthday. On the bus he sees a young man in a basketball shirt with the name ‘Kevin’ written on the back. Jeff follows him and then plays basketball with Kevin and a few of his friends. While smoking a joint, Kevin’s friends hit Jeff and mug him. As Jeff walks back home he passes by a Hooters and his brother Pat sees him. The two of them fight and then get into the new Porsche. They see Linda get into her car with another man and follow them but Pat’s anger make him dive rashly and they crash into a tree. Pat makes Jeff spy on Linda talking & complaining about Pat in a restaurant. As they leave Linda sees Jeff and is flustered but she leaves with the other man, a co-worker. Pat’s car gets towed and the brothers have to walk. At their father’s grave Jeff sees a truck for ‘Kevin’s Kandy’ and hitches a ride on the back to the factory.

He then follows the truck to it’s next spot – a hotel and he is stunned to see Pat there. That’s the same hotel where Linda & her friend have taken a room to talk and Pat happened to see the car parked there as he was going home in a taxi. Jeff is sure now that he is following his destiny and helps his brother to confront Linda. Linda and Pat fight with she saying that he doesn’t pay her any attention and that their marriage has been over for a while. After she leaves Pat & Jeff talk and decide that Pat needs to open up to Linda and say that he wants to fall in love with her all over again. They head out in a taxi to find her. Meanwhile their mom, Sharon, had been receiving notes and chat messages from an anonymous admirer and she confides in her best friend at work Carol. Sharon is elated that a co-worker finds her attractive and tries to find out who the admirer is only to be stunned when she finds out that it is actually Carol. Carol and Sharon later share an intimate moment and they kiss and plan to go for some adventure. Their car is stuck in traffic on a bridge when Sharon sees Pat running on the bridge to meet Linda in her car.

Jeff sits in the taxi and spies a car sinking in the water below. He jumps into the river and saves two kids and then goes back to get their father. The father and kids are moved onto a boat but there is no sign of Jeff. Seeing this Pat jumps in and rescues his brother. The family is reunited and mother hugs her sons while Linda & Pat hug and make up. Later at home they – Pat, Jeff, Sharon, Linda & Carol – celebrate Sharon’s birthday with a cake and dinner and as the movie ends, Jeff goes to get some glue and fixes his mother’s kitchen shutters, having a new lease on life when he sees & hears on the news that the man who’s life he saves was a city councilman named – Kevin!

Very engaging movie and sweet and funny and moving. Loved it a lot. 8 out of 10!

Michael Clarke Duncan, nominated for an Academy Award for his role in the 1999 film “The Green Mile,” died Monday morning at age 54, according to a representative for his family. Duncan “suffered a myocardial infarction on July 13 and never fully recovered,” a written statement from Joy Fehily said. Clarke died at a Los Angeles hospital where he had been since having the heart attack more than seven weeks ago.

Duncan was born in Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in a single-parent household with his sister, Judy, and mother, Jean Duncan (a house cleaner), after his father left. Duncan went to college at Alcorn State University in Mississippi with plans to major in communications, but he dropped out and moved home. In his 20s, he worked digging ditches for Peoples Gas during the day and as a bouncer at night. He told CNN in 1999 that his coworkers at the gas company called him “Hollywood” because he’d often talk about becoming a movie star.

In 1990, he decided to measure up his nickname and he moved to Los Angeles. He worked as a bodyguard then got a part in a commercial as a drill sergeant. More roles followed — often ones that depended more on his 315-pound frame than his acting ability. He was a guard in “Back in Business,” a bouncer in “A Night at the Roxbury,” a bouncer for 2 Live Crew in “The Players Club,” and a bouncer at a bar in the Warren Beatty film “Bulworth.”

Known for his roles in The Green Mile, The Whole Nine Yards, Armageddon & Daredevil, his most recent work was on the TV series, The Finder, on the Fox network which was cancelled in May. He was 54 at the time of his death.

RIP Michael Clarke Duncan

Slave is a 2009 movie directed by Darryn Welch and starring Sam Page, Natassia Malthe, Michael Maxwell.  The movie is mostly shot in Spain and is about the horror stories of what can happen to a beautiful woman in a strange country. On the surface it’s another movie about Americans who go on vacation overseas and then all hell breaks loose when mad men & psychopaths come after them, kidnap them or worse. However the twist at the end of the movie more than made it a bit different to keep me interested and think that it wasn’t a bad movie after all.

Most of the movie is narrated by David Dunsmore who tell us about his gangster father Robert, a former boxer, who spent most of his time with various women. Finally David’s mother had enough and moved herself & David to the US and started life afresh. David strived hard to be the opposite of his father – hard working, reliable and loyal. He also falls in love with the beautiful Georgi and they get engaged. However he loses his job just as he is to head out on a vacation with his fiance. Georgi wants to meet David’s estranged father cause she wants to see how David will look like “when he is old & fat.” So the lover head out to Spain and are greeted at the airport but Salim, Robert’s longtime friend, associate & fellow British expat in Spain.

Salim takes them to the huge villa that Robert owns. When David and Georgie arrive at Dad’s house, he’s not there but leaves them a note saying that he can’t wait to meet Georgie when he sees them tomorrow. Later that evening, they have Salim drive them to a hot nightclub and say that they will take a taxi back home. At the club they are initially refused entry but on hearing that David is Robert’s son, the nightclub owner comes to invite them and sets them up with a little drugs and some champagne. When David goes to the loo he comes back to find Georgie, who he had left dancing after taking the pill, missing! A frantic David immediately asks everyone where she went, but the staff as well as the other patrons have suddenly come down with a severe case of amnesia. What did she look like? Who was she again? He is soon thrown out of the club and told to go home. A complaint at the police station leaves him disenchanted as the chief asks for a bribe just to do his job.

David turns to his father for help but Robert tells hiim that when women come to Spain for the first time, it’s natural for them to get caught up in all of the atmosphere and excitement and just run off. She’ll come home, he says, when she’s ready. David gets upset and leaves, upset with his father. He meets up with a man he saw at the club and accosts him at his bar. This other man, a Spaniard tells him about the White Arab, a nasty sort of gang lord who abducts beautiful women and keeps them as sex slaves on his big white yacht. He uses drugs to sedate them until they break and they comply to the sexual needs of him and his associates. This man’s sister is also onboard but he hasn’t been able to infiltrate the White Arab’s boat. David and him decide to head out that evening to climb aboard and rescue the women. At the same time Robert makes a plan with Salim to visit the White Arab and get Georgie out by force. That night while Robert & Salim are “guests” of the White Arab, Robert is taken down to meet the new “recruit” Georgie.

David and his new friend bust aboard the ship and kill a bunch of the men there with machine guns. Salim is killed in the gunfire. The Spaniard goes to find his sister sitting with the Arab, who is holding a knife at her throat – she is now his wife and refuses to come with her brother. In a fit of anger he shoots at the Arab who slits his wife’s throat with the knife – both husband and wife die. The Spaniard goes mad with grief and kills himself. David runs into Robert who is trying to help Georgie up, but mistakes it for Robert trying to take advantage of the drug dazed girl. The two fight and David gets the upper hand when Robert is distracted by the sound of gunfire – the Spaniard shooting himself! David kills his father with his bare hands and then leaves the boat with Georgie. At the end of the movie David narrates that a week after they reach home, Georgie leaves him, unable to get the horrific images and her turmoil out of her mind.

Although it starts out like a typical abduction movie in a foriegn country, the last 10 minutes really do make it worthwhile. The White Arab is a truly menacing & dangerous looking man, mentally torturing his slaves. 6 out of 10!