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Super blown away by Inception! I can't get over how Christopher Nolan can keep topping himself with each flick. At first I was so scared to see this fail because of the curse of the stellar cast but i should have had faith in Nolan all along. This is just unbelievably good!!!

He takes his time telling such a complicated story without dumbing it down or complicating it too much. All the actors play their parts well that even Leo DiCaprio, in a rare way, fades into the character and you forget his celebrity. Everyone and everything is just amazing; from the ominous soundtrack to the sets to the acting and cinematography...all I could say at the end of the flick was, WOW!

Director Pierre Morel (Taken) teams up once more with writer Luc Besson (Taken, the Transporter series) for another action-packed flick ironically entitled "From Paris with Love".

Yes, the story is set in Paris, where James Reece, played by Golden Globe Best Actor winner Jonathan Rhys Meyers (Elvis), plays administrative assistant by day in the US Ambassador's office and small-time secret agent by night. Itching for some action, Reece's boss relents to his request to do more than just switch license plates and partners him up with loud and brash Charlie Wax, an American spy played by two-time Oscar Best Actor nominee John Travolta (Pulp Fiction, Saturday Night Fever), who is hell-bent on stopping a terrorist from attacking the city.

Rhys-Meyers and Travolta succeed in playing one of the oddest tandems to ever hit the screen. Rhys-Meyers seems to have finally landed the manly action-star role he's never played; this must have been such a big break for him; however, while I liked him in his previous movies where he plays androgynous royal types so well (The Tudors, Matchpoint), his silly mustache and constant poker face in this flick may have played up the discomfort of his transition from deskjob to field a little too well. He just wasn't as charismatic and could not hold up to Travolta, who was a delight to see in such a refreshing, overtly bad-ass role. It could be because the dialogue wasn't written to make Reece sound witty anyway.

There was just something so inexplicably hesitant and clunky (poor editing, perhaps?) when there isn't any action to be had on screen, which is quite unlike Morel and Besson's successful balance of drama and action in "Taken". In any case, trivia junkies will appreciate the not-so-sly nod to McDonald's Royale with Cheese, also Travolta's character's fave in "Pulp Fiction".

Director Nimród Antal (Vacancy) helms "Armored", a heist flick about new guard Ty Hackett, played by Columbus Short (Whiteout, Stomp the Yard), who is forced by his more experienced colleagues to steal an armored truck transporting US$42M. Oscar Best Supporting Actor nominee Matt Dillon (Crash) plays the group's leader Mike Cochrone, who promises that no one gets hurt, but things don't always go according to plan. Milo Ventimiglia (Heroes) plays Eckehart, a cop who inadvertently stumbles into the scene of the crime, and their resolve falls to pieces as they make one tragic decision after another.

The rest of the group's characters weren't developed as well as Short's and Dillon's. Oscar Best Actor nominee Laurence Fishburne (What's Love Got to Do with It) plays the trigger-happy Baines, Jean Reno (Couples Retreat, the Pink Panther series) is muscle man Quinn, Amaury Nolasco (Prison Break, Transformers) plays the prayerful Palmer, and Skeet Ulrich (Scream) plays the weak-willed Dobbs. That's about all we need to know about them anyway. The entire cast just makes for a curious ensemble of B-listers when the movie could've stood well alone with a bunch of unknowns.

The creative impediment this time was the armored truck itself, reminiscent of "Panic Room", "Phone Booth", and, oh yes of course, "Vacancy". I had no expectations of this movie but it surprisingly delivered more than its trailer promised: a satisfactorily stirring thriller.