LOCKOUT (2012)

A secret agent dude is set up and accused of killing another agent and stealing Top Secret information. His punishment: 30 years of sleepy time in a space station prison, MS One, where everybody is put in a cryogenically frozen sleep. But then, right as he's being prepped to to be transported to jail, the President's daughter, who was on a humanitarian mission to MS One, is kidnapped during a riot. Now the only chance of saving her is sending in this half-sleepy dude to kick a bunch of ass, crack a bunch of surprisingly humorous jokes and get her to an unmarked escape pod.

I enjoyed LOCKOUT.  A lot of No Fun Club members will probably complain that LOCKOUT borrows heavily from the whole ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK story idea, but that's fine with me cause EFNY was a fucking snoozefest. But whatever, Guy Pearce was really good, the chemistry between him and the President's daughter was fun to watch (I especially enjoyed the scene where he was doctoring her leg), there was a lot of CG but outside of the motorcycle chase scene it all looked pretty good, the pace was quick, the space station was cool. The biggest complaint is the violence wasn't violent enough. When you think of prison you think of it as the extreme in violence and ungentlemanly behavior, but outside of murdering and talking at an outside voice level while inside these guys weren't very threatening.

As far as B-level sci-fi/action flicks go LOCKOUT is fairly entertaining and you could definitely do worse...SPLIT SECOND I'm thinking about you! If you enjoy cheesy action movies, I say check it out.

FARGO (1996)

"You're darn tootin'!"

How could anybody not like FARGO? This movie is awesome in it's quiet, unique little way. William H. Macy is in trouble. He works as a car salesman at a car dealership owned by his father-in-law and he's in some severe financial problems, so he, before the film, concocts this destination failure plan of hiring two criminals to kidnap his wife and using the ransom to pay off his debt. As the film opens, he promises the kidnappers $40,000, but in reality he's going to demand a million! Ballsy motherfucker. After the kidnapping, things gets out of control and local small town police chief (and seven months pregnant) Frances McDormand is called in to investigate. She's a little awkward and she doesn't appear to be in much of a hurry, but her brain is steady ticking and each step brings her closer to solving the crime.

It's probably best I don't give anymore away, but I love the pace of this movie. It might be considered slow, by some people, but I thought it was perfect. It's almost like reading a really good criminal thriller short story. Even better than the pacing and the script is the acting. It's phenomenal. Everybody involved all the way down to the bit part was great. Frances McDormand won Best Actress for her performance.

I'm sure it was planned, but I love Frances' expression when she stepped in that hole in the snow.