This is the first action movie that I can remember that reunites the entire cast from a previous version. Obviously the movie series “Pitch Perfect” is another example of an entire cast reuniting for another movie but “London is Falling” is unique in that this is an action movie and a very good one at that.

The prequel to this movie is Olympus has Fallen which came out in 2013 and was an outstanding story about a North Korean gang invading and taking over the White House. What is always not good about terrorist movies, and there have been many of them over the years, is that the last thing we ever want to do is to give any ideas to terrorist organizations in the world. London Has Fallen was very good, but both not as good as Olympus is Fallen and also not as good as I expected it would be. Too much of this movie is about the President trying to run away and hide from Terrorists who have invaded London and not enough of other more interesting action, which would have included the terrorists themselves or more of a story line which was too much of two men running for their lives. Gerard Butler is once again great at his role as a highly trained and very impressive secret service agent working directly for the President. Arron Eckart is also back as the President and he is also very good as reprising his role as the President of the Unites States. All the other minor characters are back as well as well as Morgan Freeman who is now the Vice President this time around.

This movie was very well done and worth seeing, I do recommend it but I was hoping it would be better.

London Has Fallen – IMDB

The movie Heat came out in 1995 and there has never been a movie like this one, before or after it came out. Micheal Mann in one movie captured the perfect ingredients for a great action police drama that had the perfect story and included a level of tension that remained throughout the movie. The story was excellently told and the major stars in the movie Robert De niro and Al Pacino have never been better.

The bank robbery scene (see below) is by far the best scene if of its kind ever shot in the history of movies. The action the tension and the believablity was extremely well done. One wonders why something this good has never been made again and that is a shame because movies like Heat are what going to the movies is all about.

The biggest disappointment this year was Stallone not winning best supporting actor, he deserved to win given his performance and his history with Rocky for almost 40 years. The best picture this year was Joy in my opinion, which was not even nominated.  Spotlight was a very good movie but considering this list I would have voted for the Martian as best picture.   Chris Rock was just OK in his opening monologue, I was expecting much better.

Here is this years list of winners.

Best Picture
“The Big Short”
“Bridge of Spies”
“Brooklyn”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Room”
“Spotlight” *WINNER

Best Actor in a Leading Role
Bryan Cranston, “Trumbo”
Matt Damon, “The Martian”
Leonardo DiCaprio, “The Revenant” *WINNER
Michael Fassbender, “Steve Jobs“
Eddie Redmayne, “The Danish Girl”

Best Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett, “Carol”
Brie Larson, “Room” *WINNER
Jennifer Lawrence, “Joy”
Charlotte Rampling, “45 Years”
Saoirse Ronan, “Brooklyn”

Best Director
Adam McKay, “The Big Short”
George Miller, “Mad Max: Fury Road”
Alejandro G. Inarritu, “The Revenant” *WINNER
Lenny Abrahamson, “Room”
Tom McCarthy, “Spotlight”

Best Original Song
“Earned It” from “Fifty Shades of Grey”
“Manta Ray” from “Racing Extinction”
“Simple Song No. 3” from “Youth”
“Til It Happens To You” from “The Hunting Ground”
“Writing’s on the Wall” from “Spectre” (Jimmy Napes and Sam Smith) *WINNER

Best Original Score
“Bridge of Spies”
“Carol”
“The Hateful Eight” *WINNER
“Sicario”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Best Foreign Language Film
“Embrace of the Serpent,” Colombia
“Mustang,” France
“Son of Saul,” Hungary *WINNER
“Theeb,” Jordan
“A War,” Denmark

Best Live Action Short Film
“Ave Maria”
“Day One”
“Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)”
“Shok”
“Stutterer” *WINNER

Best Documentary Feature
“Amy” *WINNER
“Cartel Land”
“The Look of Silence”
“What Happened, Miss Simone?”
“Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom”

Best Documentary Short Subject
“Body Team 12”
“Chau, Beyond the Lines”
“Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah”
“A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness” *WINNER
“Last Day of Freedom”

Actor in a Supporting Role
Christian Bale, “The Big Short”
Tom Hardy, “The Revenant”
Mark Ruffalo, “Spotlight”
Mark Rylance, “Bridge of Spies” *WINNER
Sylvester Stallone, “Creed”

Best Animated Feature
“Anomalisa”
“Boy and the World”
“Inside Out” *WINNER
“Shaun the Sheep Movie”
“When Marnie Was There”

Best Animated Short Film
“Bear Story” *WINNER
“Prologue”
“Sanjay’s Super Team”
“We Can’t Live Without Cosmos”
“World of Tomorrow”

Visual Effects
“Ex Machina” *WINNER
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Achievement in Sound Mixing
“Bridge of Spies”
“Mad Max: Fury Road” *WINNER
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Achievement in Sound Editing
“Mad Max: Fury Road” *WINNER
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”
“Sicario”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Editing
“The Big Short”
“Mad Max: Fury Road” *WINNER
“The Revenant”
“Spotlight”
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

Best Cinematography
“Carol”
“The Hateful Eight”
“Mad Max: Fury Road”
“The Revenant” *WINNER
“Sicario”

Production Design
“Bridge of Spies”
“The Danish Girl”
“Mad Max: Fury Road” *WINNER
“The Martian”
“The Revenant”

Best Costume Design
“Carol”
“Cinderella”
“The Danish Girl”
“Mad Max: Fury Road” *WINNER
“The Revenant”

Actress in a Supporting Role
Jennifer Jason Leigh, “The Hateful Eight”
Rooney Mara, “Carol”
Rachel McAdams, “Spotlight”
Alicia Vikander, “The Danish Girl” *WINNER
Kate Winslet, “Steve Jobs“

Best Adapted Screenplay
“The Big Short” *WINNER
“Brooklyn”
“Carol”
“The Martian”
“Room”

Best Original Screenplay
“Bridge of Spies”
“Ex Machina”
“Inside Out”
“Spotlight” *WINNER
“Straight Outta Compton”