Genres

Visitors Review

2013-03-24 18:16:57

A Hero We Need

This review is from: Hero Wanted (DVD) I wasn't born a hero. Nobody ever is. Is it because of the tragedies that we never see coming? Is it because our lives lie in ruin afterward, forgotten by the world? How do we go on, and why should we care? But hope is the haunting image of her, and crisis is the trigger, hurling us into harm's way. But a life needs to be saved, but who will save me? I need hope, and I need her. But my trust falls against the bitter edge of betrayal, and her delicate presence slips through my hands. I failed. A sliver of love are the tears falling from my eyes for I am to blame, and justice needs to hear my cry. But what kind of hero is painted in red? Is it one trying to make right from what went so very wrong, or will there be no forgiveness for what I must do? Will I fail again, or will redemption take me by hand, deny death its bounty, and grant me one last chance? And will love be the wind beneath my broken wings? I wasn't born a hero, but nobody ever is.

2013-03-24 11:36:12

Turned It Off

I was hoping for a "decent" movie and it was OKAY for approximately the first half. Then came the typical Hollywood political attack statement. At that point and I turned it off. In essence the character in the movie stated "that ever since Bush let the ban on assult rifles expire all * has broken out" (or extremely similar to that) - at that point I turned it off - never to be seen again. I want to enjoy the movies I watch and not hear a political attack comment on any real life elected public person - NO ONE! Since Hollywood won't stop I can only stop by myself not supporting the actors (directors/producers) who do this and also letting others know as well. There is simply no need for this. The beginning of the remake of Red Dawn is another perfect example (and there are dozens). So as a movie this is a 1.5 star (bad to begion with). With the comment(s) it's a 0.0 star. Just the facts Jack (just the movie please)!

2013-03-24 11:20:34

very good movie

This review is from: Hero Wanted (DVD) well this is a very good movie good screenplay good acteringi enjoy it very much

2013-03-23 19:51:30

Very Good

Liam Case (Gooding) is shot and left for dead during a botched bankrobbery. When healed, he decides to go after the robbers.This is a very violent film so be prepared. For the longest time youhave no real idea what is going on. It's like watching something in atime continuum kind of thing as in CRASH and VANTAGE POINT, and itdoesn't straighten out until the last 20-minutes or so. But, as backand forth and as violent as this is, there is entertainment value inhere. And, once you see the twist, all becomes very clear.Cuba Gooding is one of those actors who could be nominated for an Oscarfor any movie he is in. The movie may be bad, but he is always good andthat cannot be said of too many. Ray Liotta is always fun to watch andone day someone will realize he, too, is an Oscar caliber actor. I wassurprised to see Jean Smart in this. I almost didn't recognize her, butonce I heard that voice, I knew it was her. She is terrific. And, SammiHanratty will be at the finish line along with Dakota Fanning andAbagail Breslin. The rest of the cast, the bad guys for the most part,were all terrific.When you see Ben Cross you ask yourself, why don't we see more of him.He is a class act. Violence: Very violent Sex: No. Nudity: Yes, you briefly see some poledancers on a TV screen. Language: Yes.

JoeytheBrit 2013-03-17 03:59:24

Re-write wanted

This daft DTV effort benefits from the presence of the ever reliableRay Liotta but has little else going for it. I wonder if this is thekind of future the young Liotta saw for himself when on the set ofScorsese's Goodfellas: a succession of mostly lame and formulaic crimethrillers with few redeeming features.Cuba Gooding takes centre stage as Liam Case, a garbage man who enjoysthe kind of luck that would have most people reaching for the prozac;his wife and kid drown in a car crash from which he is unable to savethem, and the new woman of his dreams ends up with a bullet hole in thehead that sends her into a coma. Director Smrz unwisely chooses to playwith the chronology of events for no apparent reason other than he'sseen it done before and evidently thinks its cool. It used to be cool,now it's become dull through its over-use by directors who don'trealise it's nothing more than a gimmick with the shortest of shelflives.Fortunately for Smrz he doesn't have to hold his hand up to theincreasingly ridiculous twists inserted into the story in an attempt tokeep the viewer interested. Case has to be one of the most patheticheroes we have seen in a long time. The guy actually thinks the bestway to get to know that woman of his dreams, who happens to be a bankteller, is to get his friend to stage a robbery so that he can play thehero. I mean, come on, that should be the pitch for a comedy not a'serious' thriller.As the film grows increasingly lost, the writers throw every clichéthey can think of into the mix and, in the end, we end up with a youngkid talking and thinking like an adult while holding a gun on the badguys.This is weak and lazy film-making in nearly every way imaginable.

2013-03-16 12:36:31

Not even close to a 5 star in my opinion

We need to start out with this film has the feel of a low budget made for TV type of thing. That is not always bad but this movie started out too slow for my tastes and even though I like Liotta and Gooding I did not like this one. The cinematography was a little rough and the cuts were out of place at times. The story was not a bad one and this movie could have been a lot better but it falls short. I do not think this movie is worthy of 4 or 5 stars it is a 3 at best, I gave it 2.5.

fistjedi 2013-03-02 05:07:54

One of the best that Cuba Gooding has done in a long time...

A recent direct to DVD starring Cuba Gooding Jr and Ray Liotta. CubaGooding Jr. is Liam Case, a garbageman who aimlessly does his job anddrinks a lot. He drinks because he remembers how his wife and theirunborn child drowned in a car accident several years ago. Liam triedhis utmost to save both of them, but failed to do so. One day Liam iswalking along and sees a flaming car. A little girl is trapped inside.Without thinking, Liam rushes into the car and saves the child's life.The city loves him, and Case feels like he has finally found a callingas a hero.However, people have their 15 minutes of fame, and then the world moveson. Case is no exception. Everyone forgets about the garbageman after awhile, and Liam crawls back into another bottle. Then he's in a banktrying to cash a check and the bank gets robbed by a band of crooks.Liam tries his best to stop the robbers and gets shot for his troubles.Also, a bank teller is shot as well. While sitting in the hospital,Liam decides to find the robbers and dispense justice upon them. Easiersaid than done. Just because fighting bad guys looks easy on TV doesn'tmake it easy in real life.Again, I haven't given away anything that you wouldn't see on the backof the DVD cover. Then it gets crazier. Cuba Gooding Jr. has his highsand lows in his film career, but Hero Wanted is one of his best rolesto date. His portrayal as a troubled garbageman and his attempts atheroism remind me of Tobey Maguire's portrayal of Peter Parker andSpiderman. I kid you not. One moment, Gooding is all mild mannered andsad, the next he can be kicking butt with the best of them. There aresome brutal beat downs as well. Plus there's a plot twist that youusually don't see in these kind of films.Its a crying shame that Hero Wanted did not go to the movie theaters,because its a sleeper hit. Its not the best film on earth, but it couldhave stomped a lot of this crap that came out this year if it had ashot in theaters. Go rent Hero Wanted if you can.

scottstewart1231 2013-03-01 12:36:51

I liked it

I really enjoyed this piece sure the time shifting was ammature but ibelieve Gooding portrayed Case with a lot of effort and heart givingCase a gentle yet disturbed soal decent effort in the action scenes andwhat i believe made this an eight star movie was boon dock saintsNorman reed's made the puzzle. Although I do believe the bad guys (wontgo into detail) were the weak point in this film like who kills off theleader second and leaves the kid till last he played no part at all andtommy Flanagan after really impressing me in Gladiator and sin city hismad ammature highlander Scottish accent and pin point aggression reallyannoyed me and he can do better, this movie does have it's floors butcan always fall back on its action and intensity.

Tss5078 2013-02-11 21:10:39

The Ultimate Movie Review! - http://tss5078.blogspot.com

Being that they do so much direct-to-video stuff, it's hard to rememberthat both Cuba Gooding Jr., and Ray Liotta are award winning actors!Hero Wanted is one of those direct-to-video films. It follows the storyof a man who tries to live the righteous life, but even the best ofpeople have their breaking point. This was a really interesting story,with some unexpected twists and turns. It was a pretty good film thatreally fell under the radar. The story was great and the acting was topnotch, but the way it was filmed really left a lot to be desired. Thefilm is frequently jumping months ahead or to a flashback, without anynotice or footnotes, it made parts of the film very confusing. Therewere also a couple of pretty big plot holes, that added to theconfusion. This is by no means a classic, but the acting was terrific,the action was pretty cool, and I enjoyed it quite a bit.

Stu 2013-02-11 09:23:43

What was he thinking?

On the outside a film about revenge, anguish and justice along with a'nothing-to-loose' attitude makes a pretty good film, its beenattempted many times before, most lately: Death Sentence, Punisher andPayback. All done really well, especially Payback - truly genius.What this film gained in story and good lead actors (Cuba Gooding Jr -Oscar winning actor and Ray Liotta) failed miserably with actors fromthe other end of the spectrum, that let alone possessed bad actingskills but even managed to bring the lead roles acting abilities down anotch. Part of me thinks this was all an attempt by the director todull down the picture, make it seem 'real' and gritty..... But badacting is bad acting! If a more gritty appeal was at the forefront ofthe directors aims, the production team should look closely at thecamera work, any attempt to make a gritty, natural experience wouldquickly diminish with really bad camera angles and pace during theaction sequences.Above all, the musical score is terrible, what place does sultry jazzmusic play in 21 Century motion pictures? I could feel myself cringe asthe melo-dramatic tones of 'cheesy' jazz would play over the lonelyscenes with Liam Case (Cuba) battling with his emotions beforeembarking on a revenge trip. Even Cuba Gooding's acting abilitycouldn't break through the thickly spread seedy jazz tones,in-experienced camera work and poor acting talents.Worth watching for the story maybe..... But leave all movie taste atthe front door.

HB Dramacases Owner 2013-02-05 00:33:06

Hero Wanted is a must see!

Very POWERFUL film.. the story is confusing at times but when it's all said and done is POWERFUL! well done by the whole cast! Cuba is simply amazing, gives you chills agian and agian!! this film should bring him back to where he was a few years ago!! a must have in any DVD collection!

sheilacarr46 2013-02-04 09:01:01

A waste of time and effort

i have just watched this movie expecting a lot more than i got! it isamateurish and an insult to all movie goers intelligence. i expected somuch more from Cuba Gooding. What is it these days with movie makerstrying to be clever with their time shifting. I have no troublefollowing their efforts at trying to be clever but find it unnecessaryand boring.The flawed hero idea and revenge concept never hits the markand while most of us enjoy a good old revenge movie this one doesn'tpull it off. It felt like a B movie and in the end thats what it was,save your money and don't waste your time with this one. Shame on CubaGooding for making it

Ronoul Johnson 2013-02-03 03:50:21

Action Thriller

This action pack thriller keeps you in suspense as Cuba Gooding steps out of the box of the normal roles he has played in the past. This movie gave Cuba the chance to show just how versatile he can be on the big screen. A must see..............

JJ 2013-02-02 11:18:56

such a great movie

very excellent flim very underrated movie 4 starssomebody call Cuba gooding jr and tell him he needs to do more of these i say right up with Training Day

2013-01-31 04:46:45

A case where the viewer gets tortured.

2 stars is probably too much.What a waste of time..... a friend loaned me a copy. Some friend :)There is nothing to say about this film. You walk away feeling nothing.A lot of wasted talent. I hope they got a good pay check.

2013-01-30 06:10:29

Poor Cuba

This review is from: Hero Wanted (2008) [HD] (Amazon Instant Video) I really liked this guy in Men of Honor, A Few Good Men, Radio, Boyz N the Hood and a few others,but I can't remember the last good movie I've seen him in, unfortunately.

ashleynwaldron 2013-01-26 18:14:00

Could have been a great movie

I originally watched this to see Kim Coates and Tommy Flanagan. Can'tstand Cuba Gooding Jr, so that probably biased it a little for me, buteven with that...This had the potential to be a great movie. Interesting -albeitsometimes confusing -plot line, the story is told in reverse order attimes, which makes it a bit hard to follow, but nothing too serious.The character of Liam Case (played by Gooding) could have been muchmore fleshed out. Instead, we only see the result of what he's doing,with no real clear motive on why. Even with Gooding's mediocre actingskills, there was a lot missing, that could have made it ten timesbetter.Other than him, this was a fairly good movie. Nothing that would makemy favorites list, or even something I'd watch more than once, but it'snot a bad little movie to pass the time.

nathan-yeo 2013-01-26 05:01:33

Too much dialog not enough action.

Cuba GOODING JR, is the Shaquille O'NEAL of str8 2 video movies. He's atremendous talent who's top heavy , and over-blown performance doesnothing but slows things down your production.A heist film with plenty of flash-backs a-la reservoir dogs anyone?Been there done that howeva most of these films are interesting andfunny like "The hard easy". This one is heavy and plodding.over-written and over-acted it takes the long way to get to a simplepoint. A heist film revenge film should boring you in and have yousitting at the edge of your seat. This one was like c'mon already killsomebody. Yes it had a great cast, yes it was well written, yes it hadgood productions but it was still a bad film. A boring film.

2013-01-16 14:48:44

Itchy Trigger Finger

"Hero Wanted" is a bumpy, but gripping DVD. Cuba Gooding Jr. stars in the lead role as Liam Case, a trash collector who has a good day & a bad day. As the film begins, he rescues a child from a burning car. He wears the hero recognition uncomfortably. The film unfolds so that the audience moves deeper into the story as we see the relationships that were not apparent. Case lost his wife in a tragic accident in which she drowned while trapped in their car. Gooding starts moving out of his shell as he develops a crush on Kayla McQueen played by Christa Campbell. Unfortunately, when he goes to the bank where she works, she is shot in the head during the heist, confined in a coma. We come to learn how his buddy Swain that works with him on the trash truck, well played by Norman Reedus, has taken Case's idea on how to impress a girl to another level by bringing in the McGraw brothers. Steven Kowalski plays the leader Lynch while his younger brother Skinner played by Kim Coates discharges his gun during the bank heist, unfortunately fatally wounding Kayla. Detective Terry Subcott played by Ray Liotta tries to piece together the relationships of the crime. Case goes after younger brother Skinner in the factory where he sleeps and then after Lynch in a bar. Faced with a string of bodies, Subcott starts looking more closely at the vigilante played by Gooding. Tommy Flanagan whose scarface makes Derek looks like a crazed killer with an itchy trigger finger takes over the gang & lures Liam to a confrontation by kidnapping the little girl he saved at the beginning of the film. Meanwhile, Jean Smart from TV's "Designing Women" plays Melanie McQueen, Kayla's mother, and urges Liam to get revenge. The bloody battle that climaxes the film comes with a pivotal choice by Swain to side with Case. There's an irony as Liam hangs onto a tropical postcard labeled "Paradise." All in all, this was a good engaging shoot-'em-up. Gooding focuses well, being very different from his Oscar-winning performance in "Jerry McGuire." Enjoy!

2013-01-16 02:56:43

cuba gooding jr

This review is from: Hero Wanted (DVD) i love him, he is one of the best actors, love all his movies and trying make the entire collection of him,movie was fantastic