Just as thrilling as the first in terms of the depth this movie goes to in exploring the legends of our country’s past. A compelling treasure hunt surrounds some of our most well-known relics, and involves the Resolute Desks, the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, and the City of Gold. Nicholas Cage is, well, Nicholas Cage, but still… his persona is almost a perfect fit for this type of character - excitable, yet intelligent and methodical. Some of the humor struggles, but a lot of it pays off. Worth the watch with a four on our flamescale.

A very well put-together film with a storyline that is unique enough to stand out amid the mindless drivel and overdone plot themes that are repeated throughout action dramas. Morgan Freeman is a hitman who finds himself in custody after a vehicle wreck hospitalizes him. Some of his friends attempt to free him and he ends up on the shores of a wilderness stream, only to be found by a backpacking father (John Cusack) and his son. They decide to get involved and escort him back to civilization where he can be apprehended, but first they must overcome the obstacle of having a team of four professionally trained hitmen following them.

Kind of a cheese-tacular title for a film, no? Well the film itself was almost as cheesy as the title, but since Ryan Reynolds was the main character I decided to plow through the whole thing anyway. The ending was surprisingly touching or whatever, I guess, but Reynolds didn’t really get to go all out in his usual cocky, sarcastic demeanor. After watching I found out it was a made-for-TV movie before its DVD release, so it rounds out at 2.5 flames due to bonus points for not being completely bollocks, as most MFTV’s are.

So ridiculous and over-the-top, I’m immediately giving this film 4 flames out of 5 because it kept me so entertained. Jason Statham has been poisoned, but for whatever reason (I guess because a movie has to be at least 90 minutes to count as a movie) his adrenaline postpones the effects of this particular poison. As long as he keeps his glands releasing adrenaline, he won’t pass out and go into cardiac arrest. Statham’s character uses a plethora of techniques to keep his heart pumping while he tracks down the bloke who poisoned him to take revenge, including daredevil stunts, having sex in public, and burning himself on purpose.

Further proof of why you should never cheat, never lie, and never, ever sleep with Glenn Close, regardless of whether you have to lie or cheat to do so. Michael Douglas is one of my favorite actors of all time, but he’s a pretty despicable guy as the leading man in this film. This is yet another Hollywood example of how it’s okay for you to kill someone as long as they are stalking you… don’t worry, when the cops come you can just let them know that you were creeped out by the person who’s dead in your house and they’ll let you off scot free.

Certain roles can be flawlessly executed by Robert DeNiro, who is a master of his craft. He’s great at playing hardened criminal masterminds, veteran police officers, and detectives. His role in Hide and Seek, however, just seemed a little less than where it needed to be. I can’t say anything more without giving away the entire film, so just suffice it to say that this was pretty good but not nearly as frightening as it could’ve been. Dakota Fanning was great, and can usually pull off the creepy child thing without too much trouble. Three flames out of five.

Okay, Peter Jackson is much better off sticking with imaginary films like Lord of the Rings than ‘true story’-based pictures like this creepfest, which is about two young girls who become friends and then basically fall in love with each other. They create a plot to kill one of their moms so they can be together. I was totally weirded out by the whole thing, and so I guess that means Jackson did a good idea of transposing this whacked out tale to film, but that still doesn’t make me like it.