Movie #345 - The Kingdom

The Kingdom
2007 - Rated R - 1 hr 50 min
Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman, Jeremy Piven, Richard Jenkins, Kyle Chandler, Danny Huston, Kelly AuCoin, Minka Kelly

This movie's disturbing and a kinda depressing, but really good.  It starts in Riyadh, where a family compound for an oil company is suicide bombed and obliterated, killy hundreds of men, women, and children.  It sets off an international incident, forcing Jamie Foxx and friends to get over there and get involved.  The Saudi government isn't happy that there are Americans there to investigate the incident, and tempers flare.  Some serious $h*t goes down and lots of bullets fly.  Good stuff.

Most surprising thing about this? Jennifer Garner isn't so bad at action flicks.  Creepiest thing about this movie? The Saudi kid's last line.  Argh.

Movie #125 - Collateral

Collateral
Paramount Pictures
2004 - Rated R - 2 hr
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jamie Foxx, Jada Pinkett Smith, Mark Ruffalo

This movie is weird. Intense, but weird.  An unsuspecting cab driver gets in over his head when he gives a ride to white-haired Tom Cruise, who's a total bad-ass criminal.  Look out!  And he wants to kill Jada Pinkett Smith, who Jamie Foxx (the cabbie) is mad crushing on, so that's bad news.

The premise is wild and full of lots of car-chase scenes and thrilling moments.  It's a pretty straight forward crime/drama/Tom Cruise movie.  Not a favorite of mine, but I don't have any specific complaints.  Everyone is great, Cruise is pretty bad-ass, Foxx is pretty in-over-his-head and innocent-bystander-y.  And Jada Pinkett Smith is all lawyer-like.  It's not bad, but it's not my cup of tea.

So intense, weird, need to be in the right mood to watch, but well acted. That's the best I can do with this one right now.