The Heat

Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) is a hotshot FBI agent who’s utterly incapable of relating to other people. Though supremely competent, she’s resented around the office and forced to endure overt condescension. Her boss, Hale (Demian Bichir) thinks that her lack of social skills might stand in the way of a promotion, so he sends her off to Boston to track down a drug kingpin but also see if she can work well with others. It’s there that she meets Boston PD officer Shannon Mullins (Melissa McCarthy), a take-no-prisoners cop who works the streets in a uniquely hostile way that terrifies even her superiors. They couldn’t be more incompatible.

But when they join forces, they become the last thing anyone expected: buddies.

Alonso Duralde of The Wrap writes, “Looking back at Sandra Bullock’s career, it appears that she’s at her best when she’s got a co-star who keeps her on her toes. McCarthy shines here, matching her physical prowess with a genius for verbal comedy, bringing out the Oscar-winner’s best. There probably won’t be a funnier movie this year.”

**One of the Bravo guys, Daniel Arriola, saw The Heat at CinemaCon back in April and calls it a guaranteed success. He doesn’t usually watch comedies but laughed throughout the movie.**

Rating: R // Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime // Runtime: 1 hr. and 57 min. // Starring: Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy, Demián Bichir, Marlon Wayans // Directed by: Paul Feig // Written by: Katie Dippold // Produced by: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Chernin Entertainment, Dune Entertainment  // Distributed by: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

White House Down

John Cale (Channing Tatum) is an employee of the US Capitol Police assigned to guarding the Speaker of the House. With aspirations of one day becoming a Secret Service agent tasked with protecting the President of the United States, James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx), Cale manages to wrangle an interview at the White House.

Unfortunately for him, the person he has to go through is Carol Finnerty (Maggie Gyllenhaal), a woman scorned. Once upon a time, she and Cale had dated. Unwilling to break the bad news to his daughter Emily (Joey King), Cale takes her on a conveniently timed White House tour. It’s when a group of terrorists led by Emil Stenz (Jason Clarke) commences an assault on the White House, that the Capitol Police officer is called upon to save the day while trying to keep his daughter out of danger.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times writes, “White House Down is a hoot and a half, a shameless popcorn entertainment that is preposterous and diverting in just about equal measure. With action so continuous and so convincingly photographed by cinematographer Anna Foerster– it rarely leaves you the leisure for mature reflection.”

Rating: PG-13 // Genre: Action, Drama, Thriller // Runtime: 2 hr. and 11 min. // Starring: Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx, Maggie Gyllenhaal // Directed by: Roland Emmerich// Written by: James Vanderbilt // Produced by: Mythology Entertainment, Centropolis Entertainment, Iron Horse Entertainment // Distributed by: Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures Releasing