3:10 to Yuma

I am not the biggest fan of wild west films. I don't particularly care for Russel Crowe (although I can appreciate that he is a good actor) and I am just so over Christian Bale. Still, I ended up watching 3:10 to Yuma (Alan Tudyk! Peter Fonda! Kevin Durand!) and enjoying it throughout.

Russel Crowe plays the outlaw Ben Wade, who gets himself caught and is set to be brought to the train going to Yuma prison. Yes, yes, it leaves at 3:10. The raga tag band of unlikely characters to get him there include the Doc (a vet, actually), a bounty hunter and farmer Dan Evans, who really needs the money promised him for getting Wade on that train.

Evans' motives go beyond that as he also wants his young son William to respect him (he doesn't). William himself wants in on the trail because he believes himself to be a great shot, even at 14, and also considers his father to be a wimp. Hot on their trail (after a cleverly devised delay) is Wade's gang of outlaws, now led by the trusted Charlie, who wants desperately to fee his boss and keep the gang together.

Many a shootout and several casualties later (Alan Tudyk! Peter Fonda! Kevin Durand!) the good guys almost made it. They are hiding out in a hotel room, having recently obtained the assistants of the local marshal and his two best men. They hightail it soon enough though, because Charlie offers anyone a reward of $ 200,-- if he just shoot and kill one of his boss' captors. Quite effective in making things way harder for Evans, who is the only one left that really wants to put Wade on that train. This not only wins him the respect of young William, but that of Wade, as well.

The final shootout is quite exciting, with only very few survivors.

Not bad at all.

7/10

Percy Jackson 1+2

Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief

Young, regular teenager Percy Jackson finds himself in the middle of a sticky situation. On the one hand he gets attacked by a monster that used to be his substitute English teacher and on the other hand his best friend turns out to be a Satyr, whose job it is to protect Percy and his mother. He learns that he is the son of the Greek god Poseidon.

The trouble is that Zeus' lightning bolt was stolen and the rumor is that half-blood Percy is accused of being the thief. To keep him safe, he is transported to a camp for half-bloods. But then Hades kidnaps his mother and to safe her and prevent a war of the Gods, Percy and his two sidekicks have to go to the underworld to free Percy's mother, retrieve the lightning bolt and return it to Zeus in time for the summer solstice.

The real thief turns out to be Luke, son of Hermes, who is convinced that the time of the old Gods is over and they should just go ahead and kill each other to clear the way for the next generation. Good prevails, of course, and a new hero for many films to come is born.

Was actually funnier than I expected it to be.

6/10


Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters

In this second installment in the Percy Jackson franchise, the perimeter protecting Camp Half-Blood is shattered because the tree controlling/protecting is dying. The flashback tells us that the tree grew in memory of Zeus' daughter Thalia, who died protecting her friends right before reaching the safety of the camp. To save her/it and keep the half-bloods secure, someone needs to go and get the Golden Fleece, that has healing powers.

Über-achiever Clarisse gets the job, but Percy and his posse start their own quest for the Fleece because of some prophecy that says that the offspring of one of the brothers Zeus, Poseidon and Hades will either save or destroy the Gods. The trio has now become a foursome because Poseidon also had another son who is a Zyclops.

The culprit, once again, is Luke. He is still out to destroy the Gods and with the Golden Fleece he hopes to bring back to life Cronos, who had once been destroyed by his three sons. There is a big battle with the re-animated Cronos and after he is once again in pieces, the half-bloods return to the camp and let Clarisse have all the glory.

The Fleece turns out to be so powerful that not only does it heal the tree, it actually brings Thalia back to life. The film ends with a voice over by Percy wondering if the prophecy meant his spawn of the trio of brothers rather than him....part three is set, then.

6/10