PROUD MARY

Mary (Taraji P. Henson) is a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston, whose life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses when a professional hit goes bad.

Genre: Action/Crime/Thriller

16DLV

Running Time: 89 Mins

MEERKAT MAANTUIG

Gideonette, a timid and visionary girl, lives with her parents in a small town. Her dad Gideon, battles daily to allay her fears about the curse of the Gideon de La Reys. Throughout their family history every Gideon de La Rey died in a freak accident at an early age. To prove everyone wrong, Gideon named his daughter – Gideonette. Although Gideonette has had to endure endless teasing about the curse, her dad has tried to convince her that they’ll both grow old. When he suddenly dies, her worst fears are realized and she retreats into a mysterious world where her imagination runs wild. Realizing that Gideonette needs to get away from the curse her mom sends her to her grandparents.

Genre: Fantasy/Drama

10-12PGH

Running Time: 95 Mins

BREATHE

When Robin is struck down by polio at the age of 28, he is confined to a hospital bed and given only a few months to live. With the help of Diana’s twin brothers (Tom Holland) and the ground-breaking ideas of inventor Teddy Hall (Hugh Bonneville), Robin and Diana dare to escape the hospital ward to seek out a full and passionate life together – raising their young son, traveling and devoting their lives to helping other polio patients.

Genre: Romance/Drama

10-12PGV

Running Time: 112 Mins

24 HOURS TO LIVE

Making a rare foray into rock ’em, sock ’em action territory, Hawke plays a CIA agent who sacrifices everything for his employers, including his family and, ultimately, his own life. No sooner has he shuffled off this mortal coil, though, then he finds himself mysteriously resurrected for one last mission that’s timed to last exactly 24 hours. Once the countdown clock embedded in his arm reaches zero, he’ll once again nod off into an eternal slumber if he hasn’t completed his task. Before that happens, expect him to wreak bloody havoc on both his targets and his former CIA minders.

Genre: Action/Thriller

18DLV

Running Time: 89 Mins

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da9xhQOcoHk

NOVEMBER CRIMINALS

18-year-old Addison Schacht, a Jewish high-school senior in Washington D.C., responds to the essay question, “What are your best and worst qualities?”. He explains he has only bad qualities, as illustrated by the events of his senior year. They include collecting offensive jokes; dealing drugs to his classmates; and insulting teachers, fellow students, and his girlfriend’s mother. But his classmate is killed, and he begins to investigate the death.

Genre: Crime/Drama

16DLS

Running Time: 88 Mins

Quite a solid line up I’m sure you would agree, can’t wait to see what my birthday month aka July brings!

Cast – Taraji P. Henson, Billy Brown, Danny Glover, Neal McDonough, Xander Berkeley & Margaret Avery

Director – Babak Najafi

Genre – Thriller film/Drama

Running Time – 1h 29m

Taraji P. Hanson in an action movie? As the lead? Doesn’t sound quite right does it? Well, this is very much the case in her latest flick, our focus today, titled Proud Mary. To be fair though we have seen her in a similar type of action setting in the series Person of Interest. So, in that sense it’s not so far fetched to picture her as a leading lady who carries a gun and uses it in the correct manner against all them bad guys.

The Plot

In this flick, officially in cinemas today, Taraji is Mary, a hit woman working for an organized crime family in Boston, whose life is completely turned around when she meets a young boy whose path she crosses when a professional hit goes bad.

Come to think of it, I like this concept, something that probably hasn’t been done enough of, if at all. What concept is this exactly you ask? The one of a strong black woman cast as a hit woman. And might I add that it’s not just any lady, it’s the powerhouse herself Taraji whose made massive inroads over the past couple of years with some impressive titles under her belt.

To get me hooked, I need to be intrigued and this also applies from a movie point of view. I was with this one but, honestly, was also skeptical. It’s explainable why but there’s a certain level of skepticism that hits you after you see the trailer and see its whole set up. Maybe it’s just me I don’t know. Anyway, onto my thoughts about the movie.

Despite everything, I found myself liking the movie. It’s got a nice flow to it and doesn’t look to be anything either than what it is. In another sense it’s clear that it’s too simplistic in its approach and needed a bit of refinement, but overall it’s not a bad movie to watch especially if there’s nothing blatantly better to watch at the time. Some might differ especially judging from the reaction I saw from others during and after the screening but it’s according to personal taste.

Like me, you might be a bit skeptical but Proud Mary is a good movie to kill a bit of time with. In no way is it the best I’ve seen but it isn’t the worst either. Taraji holds her own and does a decent job with what she has to work with. The supporting cast isn’t too bad either and helps get the movie over the line even though it’s just barely. More could have been done with it as the concept isn’t that bad, probably more of a good start than anything else. Proud Mary manages to get an okay 3 out of 5 rating from me.

Special shout out to MNet Movies and Ster-Kinekor for the invite!