If I were introducing Taken 2 to a friend, I would ask him, “Have you seen the first one?”

“Yes,” he might answer blankly. Then there would be an awkward pause.

“Well,” I would beg the question, “What did you think of it?”

“It’s alright,” he might answer halfheartedly. I would promptly nod in approval.

Then I would tell him plainly, “Okay, then Taken 2 wouldn’t work for you.”

How did we end up with Taken 2?

Taken had a certain unexpected intriguing simplicity. It’s the unanticipated adventure of Brian Mills, a very unassuming father that’s faced with post-retirement drudgery.…

Recounting his mission on the CIA website (via Reddit), Mendez provides every detail you might want to know (including a scan of the original poster for the movie—see below), but he also notes that among the scripts that crossed the desk of the studio—that as far as everyone was concerned was real—was a submission by a guy named Steven Spielberg. Could it have been “E.T.,” which he would eventually make in 1981 (and release in 1982)? At the time, he was coming off “1941,” and while he would be filming “Raiders Of The Lost Ark” during when most of the events of the film took place, remember…

I’m a big boy and I can admit when I’m wrong. As it turns out, I was wrong in my pre-judgement of this film. I’m not sure why, but this film looked like a painfully laborious snoozer to me from the trailers. Nothing could be further from the truth. Argo, though a story developed on a preposterous set of real events that took place, is a well crafted and well executed film full of suspense, tension, and heart. And though the fake film being “made” in Argo, which is called Argo, is an obviously corny and cheesy over-the-top sci-fi, Argo rises so far above the films coming to the box office of…

Have you ever watched an action movie and thought to yourself, “you know, I like the action, but what it really needs is about 20 times more camera angles so I’m not entirely certain what I just saw — that would be great.” If so, then you are in luck! If, however, like the vast majority of functioning humans, you actually like to see the things you are looking at, Taken 2might not be the film for you.

Taken 2 is a shallow, kinetic mess of visual trickery that never, ever stops, even when it should. Like a twitchy kid with ADD and an alarming coffee addiction, Director Olivier Megaton…

Liam Neeson’s Taken 2 kicked its way back into the top slot for a second weekend with an estimated $22.5 million, and Ben Affleck’s political thriller Argo and the Ethan Hawke horror flick Sinister were close second and third, respectively. The one-two-three punch helped boost the box office to a fabulous 47 percent gain over the same weekend in 2011, when Real Steel slugged its way to a second No. 1 finish.

While Taken 2 continues to outpace the 2009 original — after 10 days, it’s notched $86.8 million, in comparison to Taken‘s $53.6 million total in the same time frame — it still…

In a Tumblr post on October 5, Johnson, who also directed the AMC TV show “Breaking Bad,” provides a downloadable MP3 file to be played during the movie. In the post, Johnson also recommends that the version of the commentary that cinemagoers would enjoy will be different from the one on the upcoming DVD or Blu-rays.

He also encourages good theater etiquette by asking those listening to the commentary to hide the “glowing screens” of their media players (or smartphones) while the movie is playing.

This is a really fascinating idea, and one I’m not sure I would have thought of on my…

And now Neeson has another chart-topper to add to his already impressive resume: Taken 2, which debuted to an astounding $50 million from 3,661 theaters this weekend, good for a sizzling $13,657 per theater average. Taken 2‘s debut is the third-best ever in the month of October, behind 2011′s Paranormal Activity 3, which started with $52.6 million, and 2010′sJackass 3D, which started with $50.4 million.

I believe Joseph saw this film last night. I have now caught the first Taken film via iTunes rental. It was a pretty good film, so I’m looking forward to Taken 2 which I should be able…

Did you know Looper is a remake? Our friend at Carpe Seizure made sure we did. Truthfully speaking, what if Looper (2012) were based after a sad Disney movie of the 90s? I think we all would still enjoy it.

In case you wonder, this is a young Joseph Gordon-Levitt from Angels in the Outfield (1994) in the following video. Most people don’t remember seeing Joseph before Inception, yet his career started early in life. 

Here’s the full details about the Screen Junkies video from YouTube:

Did you know Rian Johnson’s Looper (2012) is actually a remake?? In this installment of SuperCuts…

New in theaters for the weekend is Taken 2, Frankenweenie, Wuthering Heights (limited release), and many others. I would imagine if you haven’t seen the trailers for these three top films yet that you are probably here to see them and not read this, so please watch:

Studio’s synopsis of Taken 2:

Liam Neeson returns as Bryan Mills, the retired CIA agent with a “particular set of skills” who stopped at nothing to save his daughter Kim from kidnappers. When the father of one of the villains Bryan killed swears revenge, and takes Bryan and his wife hostage in Istanbul, Bryan enlists Kim…