paul walker – Spinning Platters

Film Review: Furious 7

The seven things you want and need to know about Furious 7 before you go see it.

Vin Diesel and Jason Statham crash a lot of cars in Furious 7

Sometimes you’ll hear people talk about a movie as being review-proof. This is one of those times. There’s nothing anyone could do or say to keep you away from Furious 7 if it’s something you already want to see. And if you don’t care, there’s nothing I could say to make you care. So what’s the point? I could tell you it’s a rollicking good time for most of its length, and then it devolves into some pretty dumb stuff, too dumb even for itself. It’s basically a bunch of video game levels with some unskippable cut scenes that you wish you could skip.

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Film Review: Brick Mansions

Neither Walker’s smile nor Belle’s crazy stunts can save ‘Brick Mansions’ from collapsing in on itself.

Paul Walker (RIP) is a bright spot in his disappointing second-to-last outing.

We should get this out of the way: Brick Mansions is not Paul Walker’s final film. The charismatic 40 year old actor, who died in a car crash on November 30th, 2013, completed a portion of the filming of Fast & Furious 7. The seventh installment of the lucrative franchise will serve as a much better sendoff than Brick Mansions. Brick Mansions has its moments, and Paul Walker supplies his trademark icy blue eyes and sly humor, but the film suffers from a shallow plot, laughable dialogue, and dizzying quick cuts that spoil some marvelous stunt work.

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Film Review: Fast & Furious 6

Tyrese Gibson (or likely a stuntman) in Fast & Furious 6

Ludacris sums up Fast & Furious 6 rather perfectly when his character says, “we’re talking vehicular warfare.” Expecting anything less (or more) from a fifth sequel in an action franchise would be knuckle-headed. At this point, the Fast & Furious franchise has all but given up on the sense of wonder and emotional release the first movie captured so well in its focus on muscle cars and street racing. Carried on the muscular shoulders of Vin Diesel (now age 46, seriously!) and Dwayne Johnson aka The Rock, and to a much lesser extent Paul Walker, and guided by the action-trained eye of director Justin Lin, the sixth installment is a top notch action thrill ride but lacks heart. Of course, ‘heart’ isn’t even close to what the filmmakers set out to capture. Ready and rearing to continue making bank, Fast & Furious 6 puts the pedal to the metal and delivers a high-octane cinematic escape that is as entertaining as it is absolutely crazy! (see above image)

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