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The Informer | Average Guy Movie Review

When a sting operation goes horribly wrong, FBI informant Pete Koslow (Joel Kinnaman) is forced to return to the prison he's desperately trying to avoid in order to infiltrate the Polish mob. But while he gathers evidence on the inside, the FBI higher ups are getting cold feet on the outside, and with a detective from the NYPD sniffing around, things only get worse. When his and his family's safety is put in jeopardy, Pete must take matters into his own hands. Andrea Di Stefano's The Informer is a pretty average look at the world of informants and undercover investigations. It unfortunately suffers from a crammed plot, including all the clichés of a crime thriller and a prison movie as well. Joel Kinnaman does well as Pete Koslow, a man with everything to lose. Instead of the typical Hollywood tough guy, Koslow is a flawed man just trying to do the right thing. And whilst he is very capable, he's also under a lot of pressure and scared, something that comes acro

Hunter Killer | Average Guy Movie Review

When a US submarine goes missing under the Arctic, Commander Joe Glass (Gerard Butler) is ordered to lead the USS Arkansas to the last known location. Their mission is to locate the missing sub, rescue any survivors and investigate the cause of the disappearance. The only problem is, the incident may have got the US entangled in some serious Russian political turmoil. And in order to de-escalate the situation, the Arkansas and her crew will have to go where no American vessel has gone before. Now it sounds like Gerard Butler has made another movie in which his very Scottishy sounding, uber patriotic American hero saves the day. Well you'd be kind of right for thinking that. But Butler actually tones down the gung-ho, OTT shit this time round. Both he and director Donovan Marsh spent a few days aboard the USS Houston in order to get a feel for life on a submarine. The result of which is a more authentic performance from Butler, he's more reserved than we're used to s

John Wick: Chapter 2: Average Guy Movie Review

The man that is sheer will is back, and he doesn't disappoint! In John Wick, the titular assassin opened a doorway into the underworld he left behind, in order to seek revenge on the people who killed his dog and stole his car. Now a demon from his past - someone to whom he's bound by a blood oath - has come through the doorway and dragged John back into his old life. The demon is Santino D'Antonio, an Italian crime lord who helped John with the impossible task that allowed him to escape the life. In order to fulfil the oath, John must complete a task for Santino, something Santino can't or won't do himself. The problem with sequels is more often than not, it follows exactly the same pattern as the first movie, only with different characters. The Hangover Part 2, Ghostbusters 2, Jaws 2 are all guilty of this. John Wick: Chapter 2 doesn't make this mistake. It doesn't necessarily bring anything new to the table, but it does delve deeper into the

Selma: Average Guy Movie Review

Selma tells the story of Martin Luther King Jnr. and his involvement in the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches. The movie stars David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jnr., Tom Wilkinson as President Lyndon B. Johnson, Common as James Bevel (the organiser of the marches), Tim Roth as Alabama Governor George Wallace and Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King. Oyelowo's performance is excellent, you can really see how hard he worked to capture King's essence. Not only does Oyelowo sound like King, he brings his gravitas and the weight of his words to the screen. Unfortunately King's speeches had to be rewritten for the movie because the Martin Luther King Jnr. estate had licensed the movie rights to his Civil Rights speeches to Dreamworks and Warner Bros. for an as yet unproduced biopic. Director Ava DuVernay  wrote alternative speeches that are said to evoke the historic ones without breaching copyright. Selma has been praised for its accurate depi