Tag Archives: Vera Farmiga

Safe House(2012)


Denzel Washington does the same generic action flick that he has been pumping out in the past couple of years. That being said it was a good movie just the same ol. Safe House stars Denzel Washington as Tobin Frost, a former CIA agent who went rogue years before. He comes into the hands of the CIA and they hold him in Cape Town, South Africa to get information from him at one of their safe houses. Ryan Reynolds’ character is Matt Weston, keeper of the safe house. When the house is attacked, Weston and Frost go on the run in this action packed, Bourne-esque thriller trying to find out what is really happening.

Denzel Washington is such a great actor. From the very beginning of the film, you can tell he had a really good time playing this role. I think he likes doing the bad guys best. The characters he plays that are slightly to the left of the moral compass always seem to be five steps ahead of everyone and have a look of I’m better than you and I know it. He has that look in this and its fun to watch him mess with Ryan Reynolds’ character and get into his head. The supporting cast is pretty good in this. Vera Farmiga plays an agent who is in charge of getting Washington’s character back to the states and  Brendan Gleeson plays the boss of Reynolds’ character. There isn’t really much for them to do as this movie is all about Reynolds and Washington.

This movie is pretty predictable. I clocked the bad guy about 15 minutes into the movie. They try to throw a red herring at you but aren’t very successful in trying to trick you. The movie gives the audience exactly what they want. Go see this movie. It’s  great popcorn movie and it’s nice counter programming from all the Valentine’s Day stuff that is coming out this weekend.

Safe House is in theaters now.

Some TV and Movie Headlines of the Week


Thank you its the weekend. I can sleep in and catch up on some shows and movies. But before it ends and the new week starts lets recaps some of the stories and events from movies and tv this week.

Lets start off with NBC. They released their mid-season schedule this week  and truly just said f*@% it to any kind of common sense. They have taken off Prime Suspect and Community and moved almost every show around. Whitney is moving to from its nice post Office spot to Wednesday nights at 8:30/7:30c. It will follow the new Chelsea Handler show, Are You There Chelsea (Vodka got taken out of the title because this is family hour). It makes sense to pair these 2 shows together but 8/7c family hour is definitely not the place. These shows are supposed to be rude and crude and make lots of sex jokes. Both of these shows would be way better on cable where there is more freedom to do all that not on broadcast television. Up All Night will be taking over Whitney’s spot on Thursday nights. 30 Rock will take over Community’s spot. NBC says the show isn’t cancelled but you have to wonder when it will return. Prime Suspect looks like it’s getting the ax. They say they haven’t made a decision but they already stopped production on the show and are shooting the final 13th episode next week so you tell me if that isn’t a decision. New show, The Firm, based on the John Grisham novel, will take over the slot. Here is the rest of NBC’s schedule.

MONDAYS: 8-10 PM – The Voice (season premiere February 5 after the Superbowl; series resumes February 6); 10-11 PM – SMASH (February 6)

TUESDAYS: 8-10 PM – The Biggest Loser (January 3); 10-11 PM – Parenthood (through February 28); 10-11 PM – FASHION STAR (March 13, 9-11 p.m. with two-hour premiere; one-hour episodes resume March 20)

WEDNESDAYS: 8-8:30 PM – Whitney (January 11);8:30-9 PM – ARE YOU THERE, CHELSEA? (January 11); 9-10 PM – Rock Center with Brian Williams (February; 10-11 PM – Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

THURSDAY: 8-8:30 PM – 30 Rock (January 12); 8:30-9 PM – Parks and Recreation; 9-9:30 PM – The Office; 9:30-10 PM – Up All Night (January 12); 10-11 PM – THE FIRM (two-hour premiere January 8; Thursday time period premiere January 12)

FRIDAY: 8-9 PM – Who Do You Think You Are? (February 3); 9-10 PM – Grimm; 10-11 PM – Dateline NBC

SATURDAYS: Reruns

SUNDAYS: 7-9 PM – Dateline NBC (January); 8-9 PM – Harry’s Law (March 4); 9-11 PM – The Celebrity Apprentice (February 12)

ABC also unveiled their mid-season schedule and one of my favorite shows was notably missing from the lineup. CougarTown staring Friends alum, Courtney Cox Arquette (she might not be going with Arquette anymore; Kanye shrug) was not in the line up and this coupled with the mess that was NBC made me angry about the coming mid-season. The show will air sometime in March with a shorter season as the episode count been cut down to 15 instead of the 22 that were going to air. This isn’t a great sign for the show but hopefully when it does return people watch and the ratings go up because the show is quite hilarious.

Good news Arrested Development fans. The show is officially returning. There had already been an announcement about the show returning but it hadn’t found a home yet. This time it has. The series will be shown exclusively on Netflix starting in 2013. No word on if all the cast members will be returning  or if the long-awaited movie is going to happen but the show is back and that’s all that matters.

Ugh Twilight: Breaking Dawn pt 1 came out yesterday and is on track to make almost $140 million. It started off the weekend with midnight showings making over $30 million and $72 million total on Friday. It’s the 3rd biggest opening day ever behind Harry Potter and The Deadly Hallows: Part 2 and the second Twilight movie, New Moon. Everyone I know who has seen this is raving about it and saying it was actually really good. I don’t get it.  I watched the first one and that was awful and nothing ever convinced me to see any of the other ones. Kristen Stewart is also one of the worst actresses. Hell the whole main cast is pretty bad. Glad this is the end of this franchise because these kids are gonna disappear after this. Their movies that ventured out of the Twilight franchise have been less than spectacular and have not been seen by many so I look forward to the day I don’t have to see another Twilight ad or Kristen Stewart’s awkward and unsmiling face.

The trailer for a new Denzel Washington movie Safe House came out this week. The film stars also stars Ryan Reynolds and Vera Farmiga (with really bad hair). It’s about young CIA agent (Reynolds) who must watch a fugitive being held in a safe house (Washington). The house is attacked and they must work together run to get to a secure. Love Denzel and love Reynolds so I was already in without seeing the trailer but man when I saw it, I was in. I love when Denzel goes bad. Training Day was a great movie, I don’t think he should have won an Oscar for that but it was a great movie. Denzel plays bad so well. Why he didn’t do it more often I don’t know. The premise of this movie is not anything new. Its been done before but it definitely looks awesome and they use one of my fav songs from Kanye and Jay-Z’s Watch The Throne album that features the lovely Frank Ocean called “No Church in The Wild.” Good action, acting and eye candy what more can you ask for. The movie is in theaters February 2012.

Brad Pitt says he is going to be retiring from acting in 3 years. He did an interview this week with the UK version of 60 minutes. He said “I am really enjoying the producing side and development of stories and putting those pieces together. And getting stories to the plate that might have had a tougher time otherwise…” If I had read this in the late 90s or early 2000s, I would have been upset because Brad was making some wonderful movies at that time. Now I would say ok if he wants to I’m fine with that. The peak of his acting career has passed and while he still makes plenty of good movies, he could retire and not be missed. There are many younger actors that have taken the place that he held during the 90s when he was making hit movies and named People’s Sexiest Man. I would miss Pitt movies but I’d be ok just watching his old ones like Legends of The Fall, which is one of the best movies ever.