Tag Archives: dwayne johnson

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Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle (2017) – Review

Review Jumanji Welcome to the Jungle

I have to confess that I did saw the original Jumanji for the first time last year. And although the CGI clearly was made in a different era, it was still a very entertaining film that not only had moments of tension, but also an emotional charge thanks to Robin Williams and his character. A board game came to life and everyone who played it was obliged to continue playing until the end, if you could at least survive the various attacks of different animals. A remake was not really necessary, but if a film is successful, you can almost guarantee nowadays that it will get made. I was not really looking forward it, but the fact that Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart (together with Jack Black) would play the leading roles and were fun to watch in Central Intelligence, I hoped that Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle would turn out to be fun. Continue reading →

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Central Intelligence (2016) – Review

Review Central Intelligence

There are some actors or actresses of whom you’ll see their films blindly. This has long been the case for me with Nicolas Cage (but not anymore), but I am still able to enjoy movies in which Jason Statham, Schwarzenegger or Stallone star. The same is the case for Dwayne Johnson. The former wrestler has proven himself after The Scorpion King and is able to, just by his presence, to make them at least bearable (Ballers, I’m looking at you). He is an action star who is also able to do successful comedies and recently announced his own YouTube channel with a bombastic trailer. Someone who isn’t afraid to do something crazy while at the same time making sure it doesn’t feel artificial. Central Intelligence is his latest comedy in which he has worked together with comedian Kevin Hart. With its tagline “Saving the world takes a little Hart and a big Johnson” the tone is immediately set, but does that mean an enjoyable comedy? Continue reading →

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Furious 7 (2015)

Review Fast & Furious 7

Despite the fact that there are a lot of movies to look forward to this year, this seventh(!) instalment to the Fast & Furious franchise was on the top of my list. I gave the previous one a perfect score and couldn’t wait to see what the next one would bring. Unfortunately the movie had to be postponed by a year after the unexpected death of one of its main stars, Paul Walker. It meant the movie had to be rewritten because he had not yet filmed everything yet. Has it hurt the film or is Furious 7 still running on all cylinders? Continue reading →

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Hercules (2014)

Review Hercules

How do legends form? How is it possible that some stories are forgotten within a few months, but others are still read centuries later and are still being told? Could it be because a specific story holds a lesson, like the well-known fairytales do? Or is it because the story is so unbelievable that it is exactly that which inspires its listener/reader? The admiration only increasing the more beautiful the story is, even if it might not be grounded in reality. It is something the best movies do. This one looks at the legend of Hercules. The son of the god Zeus who managed to defeat an unbeatable lion or who cut off the heads of the Hydra. Continue reading →

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Empire State (2013)

Review of Empire State

When a movie is immediately released on Blu-ray/DVD in the US without having appeared in theaters that is usually a bad sign. It often means the quality isn’t very good and that the studio did not have enough confidence to spend money on advertising and making their money back. Over here in the Netherlands the movie, which is starring Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games, The Expendables 2) and Dwayne Johnson (Fast & Furious, Pain & Gain, The Scorpion King) will be played at the cinema. It made me wonder if Empire State, which is based on true events, good enough to appear on the big screen or if it should be sent to the bargain bin immediately. Continue reading →

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Pain & Gain (2013)

Pain & Gain (2013) review

When the average movie reviewer hears the name Michael Bay it will immediately bring up words like “lots of explosions”, “empty” or even “bad filmmaker” and looking at the scores that were given to the Transformers movies, The Island and Pearl Harbor you might even be able to write a piece to support that. Still I do think he has made some very entertaining movies like Bad Boys, The Rock and Armageddon. All those movies have a huge feel to them and for Pain & Gain I was expecting something similar. It turns out that this is a Michael Bay movie (it has the specific look), but in comparison to his other films it actually is different, somewhat smaller. It is also based on real events (ok, I’m already hearing you say “so was Pearl Harbor and we know how that turned out”) and turns out to be quite an entertaining film. Continue reading →

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Fast and Furious 6 (2013)

Fast and Furious 6 review movie Vin Diesel The Rock Dwayne Johnson

The general feeling about sequels is usually that they are a bad thing. Many franchises ran out of steam quickly (Pirates of Carribean, Police Academy, Terminator, Die Hard to name a few) and there is a big number of people who despise sequels, they are often seen as lazy and rehashing an idea. But for every A Good Day to Die Hard there is a Toy Story 3 and there are more examples. Looking at the Fast & Furious franchise I would have never thought that a movie about street racing would result in another 5 movies. Even though the opinions about them might be mixed (personally I didn’t like Tokyo Drift, but had a great time with the rest), nobody can’t deny that is has been a successful run. Part of this is because it stept away from purely street racing and moving towards heists and action, while keeping the fast cars front and center. With Fast Five Dwayne Johnson was added to the existing roster of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and many other returning faces and it injected fresh blood to make it even more exiting. Seeing Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson fight was a cool thing to see. Fast & Furious 6 sees Dwayne Johnson returning, just like the rest of the crew. Continue reading →

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G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013)

G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013) review

I generally don’t care much what a movie is based on. It can be a book, a videogame or in this case on action figures. The source really doesn’t say anything about what the movie will be. Although I can hardly remember anything about the original G.I. Joe movie except for two guys jumping through either a bus or subway, I quite enjoyed it. When growing up I never played with G.I. Joe (which are called Action Man over in Europe I think), I was more into He-Man and Bravestar, so I don’t have any affinity with any of the figures/characters. Going into the movie I was expecting a dumb but entertaining action movie. Does Retaliation offer that? Continue reading →

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The Many Faces of… Dwayne Johnson

overview roles Dwayne Johnson The Rock

Dwayne Johnson was born on May 2, 1972 in Hayward, California. When he was growing up he lived in New Zealand for a short period, but also in Honolulu, Hawaii and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. In high school he played football and also competed in track and field and wrestling teams. His football skills got noticed and he received a full scholarship from the University of Miami and became part of the national championship team, the Miami Hurricanes. He graduated in 1995 and has a degree in physiology and criminology. He continued playing football for a while. Some of his family members were professional wrestlers and he also wanted to become one and started fighting in the WWF in 1996. He became known as The Rock and still enters the ring on a regular basis. He also started a movie career, first appearing in TV shows like Star Trek: Voyager and That 70’s Show. His first appearance in movies was in The Mummy Returns as a small character, but his popularity and succes of the movie earned him a leading role in The Scorpion King. He continued his career and starred in both action movies and more family oriented Disney movies. Continue reading →