Oh my, where do I start? Wait this is just bad and not enough that it helps make it good. That’s right; I did not like this and can’t even recommend this to anyone, not even if you where a fan of the original series from the 70’s it had a better story line then this movie.
The main thing that just made this movie suck was Will Ferrell; he just can’t make a good comedy. His interpretation of Rick Marshall now a scientist specializing in space warps and non father just did not work. This time out he is just a wacko slob of a person that thinks he is too good and is just bad to watch. He really missed it this time out.
The story had so much potential; it did follow the original series once they got to the Land of the Lost, but to much stupid scenes like the hotel pool sequence with the native drug that just ruined the movie. If they just toned the comedy back and tried to make an adventure movie out of it with a little over the top comedy added would have helped.
Now to the best part; the special effects are great, Grumpy looked so good. Universal knows their dinosaurs. The whole “Land of the Lost” looked like a modern vision of the original look. The crew must have used the series for their inspiration. The two moons looked just right.
Over all just plane bad, not in anyways worth watching. Go rent the original series it’s so much better.
This movie starts the next morning after a wild bachelor party in Los Vegas that none of the three groomsmen can remember and their adventure to find the groom, who happens to be missing before the wedding the next day.
There is so much crammed into this movie that you just won’t believe one plot twist to the next that includes a baby, a tiger, cops, strange gangsters, a stripper (played by the always hot Heather Graham) and Mike Tyson (as himself).
What more could you want in an over the top comedy adventure movie.
Yes, I really liked the whole misadventure of a story and how the groomsmen keep figuring out what happen to them the night before with clues to the whereabouts of the groom. Stay through the credits for the slide show of the bachelor party, it just tops of the whole movie.
This movie is the continuing story of the machines taking over the world, with a look into the future (2018) where John Connor (now played by Batman himself Christian Bale) and his band of resistance fighters war against Skynet head on.
Skynet has been capturing humans with transformer size robots for study to make the skin covered Terminators. All this leads to the tale of how Connor meets his future father Kyle Reese (played by Anton Yelchin who beams in from the new Star Trek movie) with the help of a cylon, no I mean a Terminator who thinks he is human. He defiantly needs a psychologist or a programmer.
Over all a good action movie (McG comes through again) that fits in the series sort of. Also the appearance of Moon Bloodgood (resistance pilot) helps make this watch able.
This is not a prequel, this a McFly or Ultimate take on Star Trek.
This Speed Racer may just go to fast for the average person off the street but most kids (and kids at hart) will be at all with the stunning visuals and if you go into this for anything else you will surely be disappointed. At least this gives me hope that the "Akira" live action movie may "look" ok.
Iron Man - ****
Summer 2008 movie season starts with a big metal clang as “Iron Man” hits theatres today. This movie is a total fanboy’s dream as Marvel Studios kick starts their new line of superhero movies with this entree that stays true to the original material from the 60’s books. The whole movie is one stunning visual treat with special effects that just rocks. The suite looks great and through out the movie you get to see the evolution of the armor from the early Tin Man look to the more advance battle suite of today with out reading 40+ years of comics. The whole origins story drags a little but there is enough breaks to get you through this part of the movie and on to the all out battle action ending.
The best part was the casting of Robert Downey , Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man who fits the part to the tee and the very hot Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts (Tony Starks’s personal assistant) who both look like their comic book counter parts.
Overall must see for
a great action film that looks like it was taken strait from the comic
books of Stan Lee and updated for a modern audience. Also you have to stay
through the credits to get a look at the future of the Marvel Studios
superhero movie franchise.
Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay - *
1/2 Harold and Kumar are
back after getting their sliders from the first movie for an even more
outlandish adventure that takes them to Guantanamo Bay after run-in with
Homeland Security on their way to Amsterdam . Then it’s just more over
the top or bottomless encounters in a movie that does not quite live up to
the first one. This time around
it's just for the die hard fans of the first one.
Zombie Stripper - ***
Look out, another zombie movie hits theatres, Ok, I should not be that sarcastic but just the title sets you in mind of not your average carbon copy zombie flick and nice surprise to watch this on the big screen instead of straight to DVD. The story takes place in the near future where a viruses has been created that turns people into zombies (just like every other zombie film) and is set lose by your average mad scientist to create an army of the undead. Then a special operation military team (the standard movie line including the newbie) comes in to clean up the mess with guns a blazing and zombie heads exploding to stop the threat of the zombies taking over. The new kid on the block gets bitten and runs off in shock, then stumbles into an underground strip joint owned by Robert Englund (Freddy Krueger) that just happens to be next to the lab. The infected soldier then bites Jenna Jameson (star stripper) to start the action rolling that leads up to one of the best fight sequences between two zombie strippers that just takes being undead combat to the next level (if there is one) that is more demon then zombie.
The gross out sequences are top notch - splattered brains and all give the zombie effects an impressive look.
Overall this movie has a slow pace of a start but ends with lots of zombie style action and gore to wrap up this funny film. Oh, I forgot to mention this is done with a dark sense of comedy.
Doomsday – ***
This movie is like a bunch of other movies rolled up into one. The story starts when the Reaper virus (the standard movie virus that turns everyone into flesh eating zombies) is discovered in Scotland and the only why to contain it is to put up a wall around the whole county (no fly zone included) just like “Escape from New York ”. Then 25 years later a new strain of the virus shows up starting the real adventure with Major Eden Sinclair (The very hot Rhona Mitra) going back to her homeland (she was one of the last refuges to get out before the lockdown) to find survivors that just now have come up on satellite imaging for a cure that is tied to a Doc. Kane (Malcolm McDowell) who was working on it when he was left behind (Sounds like “I am Legend” to me).
This is when the movie turns into a modern take on the Mad Max movies with your standard punk apocalyptic survivors that attack the rescue mission but help to find a lead to Kane.
(Spoiler warning!!!) Now on the way to find Kane the movie makes a turn to medieval times with Robin Hood, knights (in armor) and a castle. I did not see this one coming by a long shoot.
Like I said earlier this movie has everything you could want that is tied together nicely with a story that flows well from style to the next style with action sequences that are over the top. It even has Bob Hoskins as a hard nose police chief to Major Eden Sinclair. I really liked this movie a lot but not sure it will find a audience state side out side hard core sci-fi fans.
Check out the direct to DVD "Justice League The New Frontier". The movie is a great adaptation of the comic book by Darwyn Cookie of the same name. The animation is excellent, almost a theatrical look. There are two documentaries about DC comics, the first one covers the origin of the JLA and the second one is about the Legion of Super Villains.
This DVD you just have to watch.
National Treasure: Book of Secrets ***
This one brings back Nicolas Cage and crew for another American History lesson this time from the Civil War with hidden treasure that could have changed the out come of the war. The movie takes you around the world with stops in France at one of the other “Statues of Liberty ” and England with a break in to the Queens office at Buckingham Palace to find the clues to an ancient Native American city made of gold. The story introduce Cages character’s mother played by Helen Mirren as an expert on this particular civilization, this made for a convenient introduction of this part. Overall this was another action packed lighthearted adventure for all ages.
Aliens vs. Predator – Requiem ***
The 2nd in the Alien/Predator crossover movie franchise starts right where the first one ended with the hybrid spawn busting out of the predator’s chest and releasing other captured face huggers causing the ship to crash in Colorado . This just brings in more humans to be infested thus producing more Aliens for the “Cleaner” Predator to fight when called in to tidy up the mess. This movie plays like if you combined Aliens 2 and Predator .
Hitman - ***
The movie starts with a hit set in India that shows what he can do, then moves into a future video game like take on Russia where he is hired to kill a Russian political figure that ends in complications and then he is sent to kill a witness (the hot!!! Olga Kurylenko) who turns out to be the mistress of the same Russian political figure. The story moves on with him by protecting her by solving the mystery behind the original hit he was sent to do. Oh, by the way just to add more story he is being chased by an Interpol agent just to help keep things moving. This movie seems like a take on the old James Bond from the Cold War with all the secret agent play days plus many homage’s to other movies like Die Hard when he jumps out of a window from explosion with out shoes on and later on he sets up a Russian secret service in a trap that Jigsaw would think up.-
Dragon Wars - **
This movie is so bad (not in a good way) but I just liked it to much. What you say? If you are not into b-movies, this movie just tank’s on so many levels, first the whole reason behind the movie makes no real sense (every 500 years a potential good dragon needs to eat a 20 year old girl that is carrying a force for it to become a celestial dragon before the evil one does) and everything else just is a homage or a rip off of other action movies (Independence Day, He-Man, and Transformers) not to mention the Darth Vader want-a-be that leads an army of “Evil” to find the girl that looks like it stepped out from Star Wars Episode 1. Ok, now all this was just great to me. The special effects looked real good mainly the battle between the army of evil and the United States Army, but anyone can do this from their garage now.
Just saw the Iron Man teaser trail. Oh, my it looks like this will be a very true to the original comic but set against a modern back drop of the Iraq War instead of Vietnam.. The FX look top notch, mostly the old armor is showcased but there is enough of the new to get you hyped for the release next May 2nd.
Babylon 5: The Lost Tales - ***
This direct to DVD movie is set some 10 years after the end of the original series and picks up like it never ended with two part story that interconnects loosely. The first part centers on a demonic possession of a crew member after his return from Earth. Colonel Elizabeth Lochley brings in a priest to perform an exorcism and this turns into a verbal war between good and evil. The second part focuses on President Sheridan’s return to Babylon 5 for the 10th anniversary of the Interstellar Alliance. On his way there he encounters the techno-mage Galen in his dreams and is told of a future war with the Centauri Empire that was started by Centauri Prince Regent Dius Vintari when he takes over the Centauri throne and told only way to stop Prince is to kill him. When Sheridan wakes it just happens he is on the way to pick up the Vintari to take him to the celebration (How convenient), then Sheridan must chose what to do with the prince. What makes these stories stand out is they are written like old teleplays from the early days of TV in they use limited number of characters to keep the attention on the story. This also probably help keep production coast down. These stories came from the creator of the B5 universe J. Michael Straczynski who also directed.
The special effects on this movie are on the same level as original series if not in spots better. The use of green screen is used through out and looks to have been shot on HD tape (not sure) to make it blend together seamless with the live action works nice, all the back grounds seem majestic in scope.
Over all this is a great addition to the Babylon 5 universe and hope DVD sales well so we get more episodes to keep this franchise alive. I watched it on pay-per-view since it was released on both formats on the same day so I can’t talk about the DVD extras
Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer - ***1/2
The Silver Surfer has arrived on the “silver screen” in this comic book length adventure movie sequel to the first Fantastic Four. The movie picks up right from the other one with Sue and Reed planning their wedding, but there looms an intergalactic threat headed towards Earth that may get in the way. Ok, this is just an over the top comic book brought to life with super special CG effects that just make this watch able. The Surfer is a combination of live and computer that looks great. This is high lighted with the chase sequence with the Human Torch high lighted in the trailers is just fantastic.
The other plus is all the original cast has returned including Jessica Alba as The Invisible Woman. It always helps when the cast can stay together for the sequels in making the franchise work hope to see a third.
Now for the down side Galactus, come on give this incarnation back to the Star Trek (does anyone remember
V'Ger) and put him in his tin can suite. I just could not sit for a cloud alien that eats planets.
Over all this is a fun summer action film to see on a hot afternoon to get away from the heat out
side.
Spider-Man 3 - **
Spider-Man has returned for his third appearance on the big screen but this time he has come back with to many plot threads for one movie. It just seems this movie should have been even longer to accommodate everything going on. Even the editing reflected this, it seemed there was more but it would skip like a missing reel. Even the love triangle story between
MJ, Peter and Gwen was way too much and seemed even more contrived then Anakin and Padmé relationship.
I didn’t think it was all bad though, the CG effects used on making Sandman look like the way he was back in the old comic books of the 60’s was great. I wished though during a fight sequence with Sand-Man that had Spider-Man would have look over at a vacuum cleaner for a reference back to the old days when Spider-Man stopped him with one.
The introduction of Venom was played out just like in the comics but with out the “Secret War” ordeal (that would be a whole movie itself). The CG on the Venom looked good in fact that is the whole of movie if it was not for the look this would have been terrible to watch.
I am hoping when this comes out on extended edition DVD it would be a better movie.
Grindhouse - ***
The Hitcher - **
This is a remake of the 1986 movie of the same name but has some new modern tweaks that gives new reasons for not to pick up hitchhikers. Ok, this not a word for word remake but takes the premise of first and adds new action to this version. The movie starts out with a couple that is traveling across New Mexico to some lake for a party and the consequences they have for picking up a stranger. I like the fact the focus of this story is more on the female character played by Sophia Bush. If not for this reason I would not have liked this as much as I did, sorry the story is to weak and is not that over the top but tries to much. (This probably happen during the editing stage.) You may want to wait for the uncut DVD..
http://www.thehitchermovie.net/
Gojira - This is the original Japanese 35mm print of Godzilla that made the art house rounds last year and finally now out on DVD. This is how DVD’s are supposed to be made; the book like box with a slick design holds this collector's dream that I missed at the screenings near me last year. Also include on the 2nd disc is the American version with Raymond Burr and a booklet with a look at the making of Gojira. This is defiantly a must buy for all Godzilla fans.
Crank – Where do I start? This movie fallows no set rules of action movies and seems to just launch into on quick dash to the finish. This movie star’s Jason Statham (Transporter) who plays a hit man that is injected with a drug that will kill him if he stops moving and his quest to take revenge on the bad guy leader who injected him. The only thing to keep his heart beating is to keep his adrenaline flowing from one extreme stunt to the next, caffeine junkies take notes. On a plus note is Amy Smart as the girl friend who helps out when needed and goes above the call to help keep the juices flowing. This is a great afternoon rush of a movie to watch with great action sequences that are original and a dark ending right out of one of my scripts.
Snakes on a Plane – Or Airport ’06, yes this just seems like an update addition to the old film series from the 70’s with snakes as the trouble this time around. The best part is Samuel L Jackson as a FBI agent escorting a witness to a DA murdered by a crime lord who plays this so straight that you just want him to take out his light saber to cut the snakes in half. If you get a chance catch this in a dollar theatre near you.
District
B13 – This is one great non-stop action movie from
Superman Returns - ***
Look up in the sky, it’s a bird, it’s a
plane, no it’s just another man flying around in tights. We have all seen the
first wave of super films from the 70’s right? So you took the good (1 &
2) with the bad (3 & 4) so where does this newest adventure of the man of
steel sit? From the opening that take you back two the early two films with the
swooshing credits flying right out of the screen this just sets you up to think
that this is has to be nostalgias through back to days of our youth. Then the
movie starts, a chill went down my back, this was going to be a new adventure
that has to live up to the originals, we learn that it has been five years after
Superman has left Earth to find his past on Krypton and the world has gone on
with out him. But this is “the return” that start’s with a sequence
reminiscent to the opening in the first film with a rocket crashing near the
farm of the
Superman has returned, but is he needed? This is the big question that the movie is based around. The whole story involves Superman getting back in to the swing of being needed and the new land scam of Lex Luthor involving Kryptonian technology. The story is a little weak but so was the others just enjoy this simple tail with one new major twist near the end. At least he’s not trying to de-nuke the world.
The
casting for this time around was great Brandon Routh plays a very dry Superman
but so was Reeves’ portrayal. The performance from Kevin Spacey is excellent
only thing is you would expect no less from him. To me the big surprise was Kate
Bosworth as
The special effects are top notch, I would expect no less. Today everyone flies but this film has the style of the early movies (crystals and all) and you can still believe a man can fly.
To bad I had an idea to go back to the theatre where I watched the original when it was released; the sound system sounded like it did back then. I can’t wait to see this on an IMAX.
Ok, fanboys rejoice this movie does not suck! With all the speculation going around about the changing of directors and all that bull, everyone was writing this off from the start. If you frequent our site you should have seen this by now so I’m not holding back with my take on what is to be the last of the X-Men movies, but I hope it turns out to be like one of our trilogies.
The story is a continuation from the last two
movies and its interpretation of the X-Man mythology giving you enough lines
from the original comic books to keep the spirit in tack. There are several
lines that just bring back so many memories like Jean saying to Scott “Let me
see your eyes” and the Beast saying “Oh my star and guts” that take me
back to my early days of reading these stories
when they where still new. I was even impressed with the new take on the
This is one visual stunning movie, right from the first action sequence in the “Days of Future Past” Danger Room training simulation with Wolverine and Colossuses doing the old “fast ball special” while taking on a Sentinel that looked like it was ripped right from the pages of the Byrne/Claremont tale from the 80’s. The only problems was in the Angels wings sequence that looked a little on the hooky side to me. Just not enough detail in the look of the wings. What’s up with this, they have been doing wing effects in China for years now that looked a lot better then this, just watch “Zu Worriers” to get the look when he becomes Archangel. Over all the special effects looked great, this accomplished at bring the feel of the comics to the big screen.
This is one Saturday morning special brought to life with a comic book size story with special effects that bring to life classic dreams that are now immortalized on the large screen for all to see not just fans of the source material.
Drexel Theaters 23rd Annual 24 Hour Ohio Science Fiction Marathon
I finally went back to the Sci-Fi movie marathon this year; it’s been five years since the last one that I attended. With this years slate of films it was a good time to jump back in, not much has changed “Fantastic Planet” has been shown before along with “Invisible Boy”, but are always a good time with Robby the Robot and its always a treat to see “Gravity” a tradition of the marathon that dates back to the Drexel North days. The festivities got started with a screening of the original “King Kong” from 1933. I have never watched it on a large screen and the print that was shown was in good shape this combination made for a great viewing of this classic motion picture.
Then on to the true “King of the Monsters” with a screening of “Godzilla: Finale War” that has turned into my favorite of the Godzilla franchise. This is almost a remake of “Destroy All Monsters”, heck it’s almost the same script with aliens coming to earth in peace but turn around use all the monsters to take over but in this one Godzilla is brought in to save the day with video game like fighting. The FX are just great the combination of the rubber suit stunt men and the CG is tweaked just enough to make the action over the top. (Ok, if you didn’t know I’m huge fan of the Godzilla series of films) This is supposed to be the last movie in the series so it was a special treat to see this on the large screen. I just love seeing movies on the large screen.
There was a down side to the collection of movies this year, “First on the Moon”. This is a faux Russian documentary based around a launch of the first space craft to the moon in 1936 and the cover up that followed. This movie is put together to look like a real black and white news real from the 30’s so on that level it was good but as an entertaining movie it wasn’t. I just could not follow to get into it.
I
did not get to stay all 24 hours so I did not get to see any thing after
the showing of the shorts from the1st Annual Science Fiction Short Film
Festival from the Science Fiction
Museum and Hall of Fame because I had to go to work. The shorts where a
wide variety of science fiction from hard core “2001 Space Odyssey”
style with “Microgravity”
to a very weird tale that adds new meaning to meat in “They're
Made Out of Meat”.
So over all this year
was a good time and I felt right at home even though most of the people I
have enjoyed past marathons with where not present. Plus, the Drexel
Gateway is a great place to see movies; this was my first time at this
theatre with its big screen and very conferrable sets. Great job to Bruce,
the master of ceremony for being the glue that keeps the marathon together
and a first (at least for the first 15 years) we ran a head of schedule.
Until the next outing April
14, 2007 Klaatu Barada Ohio!
Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector - *
This is the sign of the end of the movie going experience and I just don’t mean the changing of the help at my favorite theatre. This movie was so pointless and tasteless even for me who usually can take just about anything in my movies. The opening with Larry waking up and going through his morning rituals of getting up out of bed was just too unbearable. (Even for the two 12 year old kids watching the movie thought this was bad.) This story seemed like a bunch of sketches put together that formed the basis of the story in that Larry has to take on a new female partner who he thinks is a boy (this got old quick) and solve a crime case of who is poisoning the restraints around the city (that was to easy to figure out) before a big cooking contest. I have never seen his act but I have been told that this is just same old Larry the Cable Guy humor so it must not be for everyone.
The only thing that saved the movie was the casting of Megyn Price (“Grounded for Life” on Fox). She played the girl friend of Larry who has a redneck back ground that seems to work at balancing out the movie enough for me to sit through it. If not for the inclusion of the Jane character I would surly would have left early. This really should have just gone to Comedy Central.
To be blunt this movie just sucks just like the changes at B-Town’s theatre and speaking of those changes, I have not talk to my favorite ticket girl in three weeks (casualties of the change?), but I heard you are going off to study the languages of the world, kewl. I may not see you again so good luck.
V for Vendetta - ****
Let the revolution begin, ok just in the theatres but this is the main plot of this highly stylish movie set in the near future (2020) London after the government has put in effect marshal law and taken total control of its people by eliminating anyone out of the norm. The main hero of the story is played by Hugo Weaving (LotR) in a mask of legendary Guy Fawkes. Who’s that you say? If your not into history of England all that is explained in a to long flash back at the beginning but hold through because the action jumps forward to the future time and the introduction to Natalie Portman’s character who needs saving like something out of on old movie serial from the 40’s. Zorro eat your heart out.
“V”
as the hero is known by the media goes about causing a lot of explosions
on his way of setting in motion the revolution that he so wants on his way
to topple the corrupt government. This is accomplished with some real kewl
special effects. The visuals of an oppressive controlled society are
reminiscent of the Nazi controlled
This could be Portman’s best roll sense “The Professional”, the agony in her face when she is getting her hair saved is so horrifying and the hardness she show’s after her ordeal is so emotionally acted out. She has always been one of my favorite actresses but this movie solidifies this diction in my mind. If you liked her in the “Star Wars” movies you are going to just love her as this different kind of rebel.
This is one deep action movie that has enough explosions to keep you going between all the different flash back to get history of all the characters. It’s not as fast as most summer big action flicks so this is a great time for this to hit theatres and hopes it will do well at ticket sells. Also, talking about tickets if my favorite ticket girl does read this review I have to say I liked the hat, but did you get the Leprechaun’s gold to?
Ultraviolet - ***
This movie takes place in a futuristic world of high concept science fiction vision that has been taken over by a militant government rule to contain a virus like out break that has an “Underworld” like resistant force trying to topple it. This tale starts out with Violet played by Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil movies) trying to get past security at government research complex to intercept a new weapon that could destroy the resistant. Then the movie breaks past “the Matrix” barrier into an over the top video game driven visual stunning action sequence that should satisfy all action junkies until this summer. This takes all the movies that have come before and rolls them all into one.
Now this is great fun to see this computer created world, but could have used a shorter time in the middle where the story slows way down to much and almost dragged to a stop with to much story elements. The weapon turns out to be a boy that Violet feels contains a cure and sets out to protect him. She has always declared herself a loner and not let anyone else into her world but now this boy has changed everything she believes in. This gives her a new need to have someone in her life. This gives the second arc its plot and allows the action to start back up with another swipe from “the Matrix” with a brake in at another heavily guarded government facility to save the boy with more over the top video game action to finish the movie.
Ultimate Avengers the
Movie - ** (DVD)
Captain
The movie has the feel of the animated “Justice League” on Cartoon Network but has some flaws with a streaking some of the outlines during movement that just could not be over looked. The quality is on par with any other Saturday morning series.
Over all it’s a little short but there is a sequel in the works that will introduce Black Panther due out this summer that was highlighted in a preview on the disc. If you are die hard fanboy this is for you or any kid will get a kick out of it and hopefully will pick up a comic book to read.
Firewall - **
Is
this what
However this has some good acting from Harrison Ford as a father, who has to do anything to save his family, even putting his job second, seemed believable. He still has it to be in an action roll; the fight sequence look real enough and was played out right. If Ford took the time to make this movie he could have made a new Indiana Jones instead. This is what all you fans want.
Also a plus in the movie is Virginia Madsen's part as the strong mom; she has always been a favorite actress of mine and she fit the part great even with limited screen time.
With not much action (one car explosion), this movie won’t appeal to the casual fans of action films and the suspense is to contrived to please that type of audience, so only hard core Harrison Ford fan need to see this film.
When a Stranger Calls - *
This is an example when the third time is not a charm; this adds nothing new to horror films except how to get thirteen year olds into a type of movie with out sneaking them in. This could have been made by “Disney” (yuck!) it so kid friendly, with absolutely no blood found and the violence so tame that “ABC Family” should pick this up as a weekly series.
The story is the same as before, young babysitter is hired to watch kids and then the strange phone calls start. Then it’s a lot of running around braking things in the house while getting away from the killer. This film tried so hard to be a modern day “Halloween” but just could not work unless you’re a young kid seeing your first horror movie because it has been done before but better.
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/whenastrangercalls/
Big Momma's House 2 - **
Why did I go see this? Oh, that’s right it was a boring Sunday night with nothing to do so off to my favorite place to waste time, B-town’s theatre. Big Momma’s House 2 seem right for this, if it got bad I could go bother the ticket girl, but this movie turned into a car wreck, just could not stop watching. Yes, this is not good but not bad, just worth seeing. Martin Lawrence is back in the Big Momma costume to help stop a computer company from selling a virus to a bunch of criminals buy going undercover as a nanny for one of there programmers. This is the typical Disney dysfunctional family where the parents work too much and the kids run wild, so it’s up to Big Momma to fix everything in the family’s life and stop the hand off of the virus. The is a lot of slap stick gags, like the take off of the movie “Ten” with Lawrence in full body suite with a bikini just like the one worn by Bo Derek running on the beach (there is a problem with this, what kid today will get this, they would not have seen “10”?) There is just enough to keep you entertained and laugh a little.
This would have or should have been a striate to ABC Family Channel if Fox still owned the network or DVD.
http://www.bigmommashouse2.com/
Underworld: Evolution - ***
I started this movie with a large Pepsi from my favorite candi; this was just a great start to one of the best sequels around. Like the first movie this is a tale of vampires vs. werewolves but taken to the next level. We find out more about the rich history of how the two “races” are more intertwined then even told in the last movie and almost makes sense with the two brothers. This all comes to light right at the start with a flashback with the vampires in medieval armor hunting the first true werewolf. Then fast forward to the ending of the first movie with Selene (Kate Beckinsale) on the run from another vampire lord; who is after the information that is buried in her subconscious.
This story is just the best combination of horror and action in a high octane adventure that puts the horror back into the movies that is sadly missing in the latest batch of films out. Yes, there is true on screen blood and guts even though CG enhanced to the max look but works fine with me, none of that off camera psycho crap. Then for the action fans all the big explosions and gun play to last until summer. The special effects eye candy is top notch that just pushes it past the last film with helicopters crashing and the werewolf transformation seem second hand. This just adds to how computer graphics keep getting better and changing the way we take effects as just part of the film.
So buy now you may have figured out that I liked this very much and may just have to go and see it again. This just makes me like vampire movies even more.
Hostel - **
The
movie starts with two horny Americans on holiday in Europe traveling with
a new found friend from
When they get to the hostel it’s all partying and sexy women until their friend disappears and the movie starts to get intense and turns in to a modern horror movie driven right from the “Saw” series. Then one of the Americans disappears also and now we start to see the truth of what’s going on.
This movie is filmed so that you don’t really see the torture on camera but the tension is high and what little is enough for today’s audience. (What ever happen to films like “Make them Die Slowly”?) Until there are more faces of death we will have to live with this new line of horror since that is what’s making money at the theatres.
King Kong - ***
This is
Peter Jackson’s faithful reinterpretation of the original “King
Kong” from the 30’s (it’s even set during that time period unlike
the 70’s remake). The story is top notch; film crew goes to
The
special effects are truly state of the art but I still think it lacks
something, maybe because it is set in real world
Ok, don’t get me wrong I liked this a lot; Naomi Watts has her best performances yet, the dinosaurs look great fighting Kong, and the same sad ending where the beauty kills the beast is still in tacked. Go watch this when you have three hours to kill.
Jarhead - *
This movie is a realistic look at one Marine’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) struggle through the Gulf War. It tells the tail of his day to day life to become a war hero that never transpires. The bulk of the movie is set in the days before the Gulf War starts with our troupes training for the big day of liberation that happens off camera. Yes, this is a war movie with no battle sequences, just a long look at what it must have been like to survive in the heat of the desert. With Staff Sgt. (Jamie Foxx) constantly yelling at his troupes that helps to ad the total gritty sound of this movie that turns out to be surprising good. The acting buy the cast is great, but the lack of action makes this is the biggest disappointment that I had with this movie. When I go to see a movie I don’t want realistic I want lots of action and explosions. This is as close to a chick flick made for guys, there is just too much feelings and emotions for me.
So be warned if you want a war movie with the high combat action of a movie like Full Metal Jacket this is not for you. I can’t recommend going to see this, I just could not get into
Saw II - **
This is the way to get the Halloween weekend off to a great start, I just had to go see this right away on the opening Friday. The theatre that I go to was all decked out for the occasion with the employees dressed up in costumes. This was a major plus that always sets me in a good mode (that happens a lot there), but tonight was special.
Ok, now to the movie at hand, Saw II takes up right where the first one ended; with the return of Jigsaw up to the same old test. The full story behind why Jigsaw is doing all this to the contestants he chooses for the games is told through flash backs that help to add more depth to his character. Then the movie jumps to a much wider view then last time that introduces a new player in Donnie Wahlberg’s Detective Eric Mason, a wreck of a cop, who is the lead this time around that confronts Jigsaw up close.
The main game has more players (eight) then in the first one, all with something in common (more then just being familiar faces) to help solve the game that they are playing. Just like before, if they only could have paid more attention to all that is spoken by Jigsaw they could have gotten out. Shawnee Smith the only contestant to win one of the original games returns and brought into the mix to add continuity from the last film. Dose anyone remember her in the remake of the Blob?
The film has the same texture, lighting and fast edits that made the first one stand alone. This is more then just the average slasher film, it makes you think, but don’t worry there still the blood and brains (literally) for your enjoyment. If you liked High Tension you will love the ending.
Doom - **1/2
Oh no, another video game turned into a movie, I’ve learned going into this type of video game adaptation movie not to expect much, does anyone remember The House of the Dead. But, on a recommendation of the ticket seller (who always says she has not seen the movie when asked) said I would like this, so it had to be good.
It starts with a twist on the Universal logo opening with replacing the earth with mars a good hock to get you into the setting of the research station where all the action goes down, this was a good change. There is an incident on the station with some “Alien” like mutated monsters rejects chasing around a bunch of scientist that leads to a special force unit lead by the “the Rock” to teleport to mars through an accent stargate to contain the facility, retrieve data and kick some but. This movie is like watching Predator, Aliens, Stargate, Dawn of the Dead, and any of those Mars movies rolled into one. The action is high, mainly shooting up the monsters with “BFG’s” and trying to guess where the monsters come from, this dose not take long. About what it takes to get through the token video game play sequence that is in all video game movies and the finale battle with “the Rock”. It’s interesting to point out that this is “the Rock’s first space related sci-fi action film that is following in the line of Arnold Schwarzenegger films, but a twist of an ending that Arnold would never go down.
One good thing that help’s make this more watch able is the inclusion of the typical blond female scientist found in this type of sci-fi action flick, who is played by ex-Bond girl Rosamund Pike (Die Another Day). Where was Tara Reid when we need her?
I did like this a lot, but we are reaching the point where this is becoming less homage and more parody of the type of movie. There was one thing that really bothered me in the story, the sewage system; it looked like something out of medieval castle, where was all the waste going? If you are into the old action movies with lots of video game shooting of aliens this tale is right up your alley.
Serenity - ***
The
movie starts with a flash back to when River (Summer Glau), who is
programmed as a killing machine with psychic powers, being rescued by
Simon (Sean Maher) her brother from a training facility of the
Alliance(the ones who are in control of the universe). Then it’s of to a
pay role hest strait from an old west movie with the whole cast back with
Malcolm (Nathan Fillion), Wash (Alan Tudyk), Zoe (Gina Torres), Kaylee
(Jewel Staite) and Jayne (Adam Baldwin) that is interrupted by the Reavers
a bunch of savage mutants. This whole movie is set around the secrets that
River knows about the
The special effects are great, better than most sci-fi films out this is top notch all the way. This is on par with the greats (Star Wars, Star Trek) in my book. A must see by the entire fan base of the series and even for someone who has not even seen the original.
Into the Blue - ***
Do I have to say anything.
Transporter 2 - ***
The "Transporter
2" continues Frank’s (Jason Statham) story about a man that
delivers anything from point A to point B no questions asked in some of
the hottest cars around. The setting is moved from the European backdrop
to the American’ beach front of Miami, which just gives the movie a
non-Eurasian flavor that I think helped make the first movie. This was
probably done to get more of an American draw at the box office.
The movie starts out with Frank taking on a gang of carjackers that
is used basically to reintroduce the viewers to his skill if you had
forgotten the last movie or have not seen it. Then off to pick up a kid
from a school that he is doing for a favor for the kid’s mom because
their driver is on vacation. Then
we find out his dad is some big shot drug agent for the government so this
makes the kid a target for mercenaries hired by a drug lord that use kid
to infect everyone with some deadly viruses. Ok, a little over kill but it
makes for good action sequences with Frank if you like the over the top
un-realistic “Matrix” fights. The villains all are the standard
international bunch that use an allotment of automatic weapons to shot up
the set around Frank, but never seem to hit him (?) and just gives in to
fast against an unarmed opponent (?). They are lead by Alessandro Gassman who plays the role impressively as
a ruthless boss that don’t care about anybody but himself and has a
great assistant/girlfriend in Kate Nauta who runs around in her underwear
most of the time with two guns a blazen like something out of a video
game. What more could you want.
Plus there are so many more computer generated sequences like the
car spin and the jet plane just to name two that just pushes this to a new
level that was not fond in the first movie. I’m looking at it like this;
the first movie was Sean Connery’s style of pure action and this one has moved
into Roger Moore’s more gimmicky action with the special
effects driven style, this franchise is trying so hard to be a James Bond
replacement.
Even though I’m sounding negative I really liked this movie, the over the top action is more than enough for any adrenalin junkie’s fix at the movies. I even liked the kid’s mom played by Amber Valletta ads a Desperate Housewives feel to the film, this take on woman in there 30’s is just on the edge of being used to much in Hollywood. This sequel is a more action filled then the first but could have been better, but there is enough of everything to make this worth seeing for all action film fans.
The Cave - *
This movie tries to hard to be “Alien” underground. The premise for story is a team of explores (that look like they come from the WB) go into an undiscovered cave system to see what they can find. Then they start to get eaten one at a time by monsters that act just like the ones from Alien movies.
Oh, this movie had some hope, but it took itself to serious and stayed that way through out. If it only there were added some more lines that could have be taken out of context. The only thing that I thought that could have saved this cave-in is if Tara Reid was given the part of the scientist. This would have made this movie much more watch able.
http://www.sonypictures.com/movies/thecave/
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - ***
Alright
this is the movie for all the fans of the Douglas Adams’ book series.
The movie remains very faithful to the book. It should be because the
script is a tweaked version that that he wrote. Well since I’m a fan of
the books I had to see this right away. The movie starts out with a great
sequence that involves the exodus of the dolphins and dives right into the
story right from the book. Arthur
Dent, the main character, is an average Earthman who is having a bad day
when he wakes up to find out his house is being demolished to make way for
a new bypass, then he finds out that his beast friend Ford Prefect is a
stranded alien who has news of the Earth is being also demolished to make
way for a hyper space bypass, wow. Then their adventure takes them across
the galaxy in the “Hart of Gold” with its “
The special effects are top notch that gives it a rich visual experience, especially if you have seen the BBC mini-series limited visuals from the 80’s. Speaking of the old show Marvin the robot from it makes an appearance in the waiting line on the Vogon planet sequence. Ok, back the effects, the use of digital is above and beyond to pull of a truly other worldly look. Colours, shapes, and other looks helps to pull this off great. Then the use of puppetry for the Vogons was great. This allowed a realistic fit with the other actors.
The
cast is great witch keeps the
British feel to the movie alive and are little know here in the states . But this might be a reason I
feel that
might give this movie a limited run in
Oh well, go in to this movie with an open mind (you’ll need it) to get all the jokes and enjoy the great story with top notch eyecandy to go along, but this movie is not for everyone, the story is very slow paced for action film fans who this movie is being marketed toward. Be warned.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Cursed - **
You will
get cursed if you sit through this it should have been a direct to the Sci-Fi
Channel Saturday night movie. Ok, this is cruel for me but I just could not
accept that this is the new update thing for werewolf movies. The effects look
like something you could have gotten on a good episode of Buffy. I remember
going to see the werewolf movies of the early 80’s “An American Werewolf in
Now on to the story witch I thought was good, there was a lot of suspenseful moment’s but also they seemed to predictable, especially if you have seen the Scream movies. The best example is the open door when you knew it was closed so there has to be some thing in the room, how many times can you see this and not know what will happen next.
The movie is set in the
Speaking of Christina Ricci I think she fit into this part well. She plays a late night talk show producer who has a boy friend that is opening a horror movie theme club. I especially liked how she played the primal transformation once she started to turn into the wolf. There is a scene in her office where she smells something and chases it down like a wolf.
This movie is an average run horror flick that tries too hard to be intellectual and lacks the visuals of the old school werewolf movies. Only go see this if you a dire hard horror movie fan or wait it will be on Sci-Fi Channel soon.
Also one odd part that I forgot to mention is Scott Baio’s cameo appearances as himself, and by the way what ever happen to the blond cheerleader from “Charles in Charge” after the Coreys got done with her.
Elektra - ***
I know most reviews have been on the low side about this movie, so going in I had almost no expectation of this being as good as it is. First off Elektra is a spin-off from the Daredevil movie, but does not mention any history from it (good no Affleck). Same Jennifer Garner but this time in her assassin red costume, oh this could be the one reason I liked the movie even more. Plus the smile from the ticket booth set me in a good mode while watching this.
The story starts out with an elaborate hit on some rich dud that has a price on his head that sets the history of Elektra becoming a legendary assassin. Then moves on to her next assignment that leads into a bunch of flash back that tells Elektra’s life as a kid and the helping of a young girl that has an eerie resemblance and history like Elektra’s past. I don’t want to give to much more about the story away but this leads into a fight with an evil version of the X-Men that includes Typhoid Mary and an evil Luke Cage. I did like the part where Gen. Zod oh, I mean Stick played by Terence Stamp trains Elektra and just keeps annoying her through out the movie with his sensei insight.
Assault on Precinct 13 - ***
This is not just a
remake of the original film from John Carpenter’s 1976 name sake but a
re-envisioning (like Ultimate Marvel). This is really not too bad; Ethan Hawke
plays a has-been cop on his way down assigned to a police station that is
being closed on New Years Eve, also a Mob boss played by Laurence
Fishburne is rerouted there due to snow storm. It turns out Fishburne character
knows information on a bunch of dirty cops and the cops come there to eliminate
him. This is where the action starts, with no back up to be seen Hawke arms the
inmates to help stand of the seamlessly unlimited a mount of bad cops that want
them dead.
Fishburne again takes on his Morpheus like persona (the cool bad ass) as
the assault team attacks the jail he just sets there working on a crossword
puzzle. (He is trapped in this mold but who cares when it works)
One of two surprises is what happens to Maria Bello (who plays Hawke’s psychotherapist) character that I just did not see coming and the other is Drea de Matteo's kick ass dispatcher that looks like Black Canary on a good day.
There‘s enough action to please any fan that is kept in check until they leave the police station then it turns to over the top unreal, but that’s only for few minutes and can be forgiven
National Treasure - ***
This is simply an Indiana Jones rip set in the modern times reminiscences of Tomb Raider. Nicolas Cage plays the lead hero Benjamin Franklin Gates who has been searching for a lost treasure since his grandfather told him a tell of the Founding Fathers of USA hid because no one person should have that much power.
Ok, this story is not to deep but what action film is. So take the finding of the clues that are hidden in old relics (the constitution) and even on the money used every day with a grain of salt and let the story flow for what it’s worth.
One of the better parts of the movie is Dr. Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) the caretaker of the constitution who is drawn into the story after Cage “obtains” the constitution to look for an invisible map on the back.
With a few explosions, chase sequences and a plausible story line this movie is a nice getaway movie to watch.
The Grudge - ***
Team America: World Police - ***
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow - ****
In most of my reviews I talk about eyecandy, the use of CGI in movies now days, well that is what this movie is all about. As you surly know by now that Sky Captain was filmed entirely in front of green screen with out any sets and the back ground was generated using computers. This was done with most beautiful results that I have seen in any movie. Director Kerry Conran vision of the future-past New York to Shangri-La and the Lost World like island of the evil Dr. Totenkopf look like something striate out of old pulp comic books brought to life with very impressive visuals to pull it off.
The story is right out of the old movie serials of the 40's. Sky Captain (Jude Law) is a Black Hawk inspired hero who has his own version of Lois Lane in reporter Polly Perkins (Gwyneth Paltrow) tagging along for the ride to find out who is behind the giant robots that have been showing up all over the place. The captain gets help from an old friend Franky Cook (Angelina Jolie) a female Nike Fury from England. The story is simply good vs. evil.

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow
Resident Evil: Apocalypse - **1/2
This sequel continues where the last movie left us hanging in
the streets of
There are a lot of zombies that get their heads shoot, but added are faster moving creatures, returning hellhounds and one “Terminator” want-a-be monster. Not bad special effects make this a playful video game/action film that worth watching.
Alien vs Predator - **1/2
This
is the one all comic book fanboys of the original series from Dark Horse Comics.
The movie takes place in the current time like the Predator
movies not the Alien franchise but has
a strong tie to it with Lance Henriksen playing the role of
founder of the company that will create the android Bishop that Henriksen played
in Aliens. The discovery of a mix
cultured pyramid frozen under the
This movie is rated PG-13 so fans of the gore from the past movies this
ones a lot tamer, but most of the violence is off camera. The special effects
are top notch with the look of old movies kept in tacked.
This movie keeps the tradition of the great movie crossover going like King
Kong vs Godzilla and is a fun Sunday night getaway movie to watch. I really
hope there is more movies to follow.
Collateral - ***1/2
This movie is one great thriller (yes thriller not action no big explosions found here) that takes place one night in LA after a cabbie played by Jamie Foxx latest customer Tom Cruise turns out to be a contract killer. Right from the first hit was the biggest flaw of the movie, when the dead dude falls on top of the cab; Foxx’s character is drawn in to keep helping Cruise with the hits. If I was in Cruise’s place I would just execute the cabbie to cover my tracks, why bring in an unknown. This was the one thing that prevented me from giving his a full four star review.
Harold & Kumar Go to
After a having
a very bad day I just had to get away from everything, so I went out to see a
movie. Running late I was forced into seeing what ever was showing at
This movie chronicles the late night adventure of two stoners (John Cho
& Kal Penn) on their quest to get hamburgers from
One of the best parts is the guest appearance of
Neil Patrick Harris (Doogie Howser) as himself who is hitchhiking and steals
the duo's car.
Overall this is a very funny movie, if you liked Dude, Where’s My Car? You will just think this is the stuff. This is a good change from all the big budget eyecandy movies out over the last few weeks. But the eyecandy still looks good at the ticket window.
http://www.haroldandkumar.com/
Catwoman - *
Bad, real bad in not worth watching, when they came up with the idea for this movie they must have watched the Crow movies one to many times. (Back from the dead to avenge death, been done one to many times)
And what is up with the second costume with all the claw rip marks. Even Halle Berry can't pull this off. But I thought the first one at the jewelry shop was a good homage to the “real” look of the Catwoman.
Second the CG of the Catwomen in action looked to video game like and did not work. (unlike the way it is used in Spider-Man)
So, just skip it at all cost.
http://catwoman.warnerbros.com/
I, Robot - ***
This movie is more of an action thriller set in a science fiction setting so all who don’t want to be bogged down by an intellectual movie can enjoy this just fine. The year is 2035 all the robots are being replaced by a new upgrade model and there just happens to be apparent suicide by the creator of the line. This is how Will Smith (who happens not to trust robots from an earlier incident) gets brought into the story to figure out if it was a murder or suicide. Then the film races off to where the robots are taking over the world and its up to Smith to stop them.
The only reference to Isaac Asimov story of the same name is the three rules of robotic programming this movie is just another digitally enhanced picture of over the top sequences of Smith fighting robots. But, that is not totally bad if you like this type of action movie because this is one of the better to come out. I’m really into this type of movie the computer generated effects are clean and works well to enhance the movies visual look.
Overall this is just another big effect action movie that looks and sounds big for your summer getaway for two hours.
Around the World in 80 Days **
I
broke down and paid to see a new Disney film only because Jackie Chan is in this
movie. This movie is a flash back to the light hearted Disney adventure movies
of my childhood. Jackie Chan plays Passepartout who steals the valuable jade
Buddha idle to return it back to his home land with the unknowing help of
eccentric inventor Phileas Fogg (Steve Coogan) who has taken wager with leader
of
Cecile De France is an added third to the traveling crew as a French arts Monique looking for inspiration for her work from a world adventure. I thought she added a nice touch to the crew on their escapades.
There are several guest appearances form big name stars but the most surprising had to be Arnold Schwarzenegger as a Turkish prince. This is over the top fun that makes light of his alleged womanizing ways.
This is another big movie with lots of great
visual eyecandy that uses CG transitions of world map to set their passage from
place to place that helps keep the movie flowing in a very clean manner that
works well. But what more are you looking for in a Jackie Chan movie?
The Day After Tomorrow *
The Day After Tomorrow is one of the slowest action
movies ever. Right from the start with the IMX nature film rip of an opening
this movie has very little to offer even the most die hard action movie junkie.
Lets get real this is a movie about weather even how violent it gets it still
happens to slow. The whole story is about the end of the world through a new ice
age and there is nothing that can stop it.
The story needed to be some kind of bomb going
off in the Antarctic causing the polar cape to melt faster thus creating all the
bad weather to happen faster.
Van Helsing **
Going into this movie don’t expect much, it’s all eye candy. This retooling of the classic Universal Monsters is intended to bring them back for a younger audience. This is pulled of great and maybe the best part of Van Helsing.
Stephen Sommers’ (The Mummy series) has combined the three main monsters Dracula, Wolf Man and Frankenstein's Monster origins together in a simplistic but plausible story that each one needs the other to survive. Sommers’ tweak of the monsters look makes them more visual for today’s movie audience. The Wolf Man transformation into the wolf creature is quite impressive with the wolf essentially tearing right out of the human form, cool. If you get a chance, go to the official web site (http://www.vanhelsing.net/ ) where you can watch two very good making of specials that high light the production that went into this movie.
The movie is highlighted with the presence of Hugh Jackmen as Van Helsing himself who plays him as an over the top action hero that has no memories of his past (this sounds like another hero, doesn’t it) and who has a lot of James Bond style gadgets.
The other factor in this movie is Kate Beckinsale in one of the tightest outfits from the 19th century in the role of a vampire slayer that Buffy does not have to worry about her job.
To bad there had to be some bad editing that interrupted the flow of the movie that just bothered me and what was up with the demented Oompas? I feel that this is just a one weekend hit that won’t last long this summer. It is a good thing this came out first.
Also, to all fan boys there is a part in this that just looks like the closest we will ever see to a Wolverine vs. the Hulk scenario. To bad it right in the beginning.
Torque - **
All right, this movie is so much like the Fast
and Furious franchise an over the top street race movie but with bikes. Even
in the opening sequence makes fun of the car race movies. The story starts
with a biker Martin Henderson returning from self exile in the orient to
clear his name. This leads to a clash between Ice Cube’s gang of bikers
and another group of biker’s that originally framed
This then takes use to an unbelievable chase with bikes riding across trains and well placed objects to jump over. This movie uses so much CG to pull off the stunts.
The
best part of the movie for me is Monet
Mazur and Jaime Pressly cat fight on bikes that is really a commercial for
Pepsi products.
It may seem strange but I liked this movie for all that its worth. Don’t go into this with much high hopes and you will come out with a movie that was fun to watch. This movie does give me high hopes on what can be done with the Ghost Rider movie.
Charlie’s Angels ***
The three Angels (Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Lucy Liu) are back in action in the sequel to 2000 hit film. This time they are after two rings witch hold info on everyone in the witness protection program. How could they get all that data on rings? There are plenty of over the top “Matrix” like style action sequences just as before. The extreme motorcycle race is a good example; they chase after an assassin with all the flipping and jumping around bullets in the slow motion turn around viewpoint. It looked good.
Demi Moore plays an ex-Angel that has fallen to the dark side as the new villain who took the rings. She just fits into this part because you could believe she was an Angel from the 80’s, she just has the look and that look is hot.
For all you old school 70’s Angel fan’s Jaclyn Smith makes a heavenly appearance as Kelly from the TV show. This was a nice touch.
Remember going into this movie that it is an action/comedy intended to let you get into the world created for Barrymore. This is just per fun.
Hulk ****
Ok,
this is another great Marvel comic book to movie adaptation (3 in on
year). The movie starts out with a more up-to-date origin of the Hulk,
DNA splicing gone wild with gamma radiation augmentation. But, there is a
part that plays homage to the original gamma bomb blast from the first
issue of the comic book. Then toss in a dramatic story about a father
son relationship gone wrong that just slows down the first part to
much for my taste
(especially at a
Once
past this we get a fully computer generated Hulk that looks like it leaped
directly from the pages of the comic book. (Purple pants included) The
look of the Hulk jumping across the desert is so detailed in movement and
facial excrescences are what any fan boy could hope for. Now with the use
CG, there is no limit on what can be put on film.
Now
on to the real actors, Eric Bana plays the mild manner Doc. Bruce Banner
who is the human side of the Hulk. He polled this off well. I did like
Jennifer Connelly as Betty Ross, she is just so hot. This was cool to have
a "Best Supporting Actress Oscar" winner in a comic book movie. This just
shows Hollywood
is taking this from of entertainment legit.
Over
all a great eye candy movie that tells a tragic tall of a modern “Beauty
and the Beast”.
The Matrix: Reloaded - IMAX****
If you liked Reloaded on the regular screen you have to see it on the IMAX. It has been reformatted to fit and is it big. The detail in the picture is so much more detailed that you have almost full emersion into the movie. The sound helps out even more, the total surround 6.1 system makes all the explosions even bigger. A must see experience.
Wow, the sequel to the Matrix is out at theatres
worldwide (the last four years were just too long) with over the top
action sequences in this computer-generated world. The story starts out
right were the last film left off with Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity still
trying to stop the machines and save all of humanity. The machines get mad
and send a whole lot of squid robots to
The
special effects are top notch as it should be. The 100 Mr. Smith fight
with Neo (Burly Brawl) is all that they been saying about and then some.
But, what totally rocked me was the extended freeway sequence. There was
so much crammed into those few minutes that it will take me a few more
viewings to sort out. The look to the world in the Matrix had a more
computer animation fell more than be for. At first this is noticeable, but
you get used to it quick. Remember it takes place in a computer generated
world and is probably done on purpose.
Ok,
this is the middle installment so there is no ending it just stops (like
LotR’s) so you have to wait till this November to see how it all ends.
The Matrix: Reloaded ****
Wow, the sequel to the Matrix is out at theatres
worldwide (the last four years were just too long) with over the top
action sequences in this computer-generated world. The story starts out
right were the last film left off with Neo, Morpheus, and Trinity still
trying to stop the machines and save all of humanity. The machines get mad
and send a whole lot of squid robots to
The
special effects are top notch as it should be. The 100 Mr. Smith fight
with Neo (Burly Brawl) is all that they been saying about and then some.
But, what totally rocked me was the extended freeway sequence. There was
so much crammed into those few minutes that it will take me a few more
viewings to sort out. The look to the world in the Matrix had a more
computer animation fell more than be for. At first this is noticeable, but
you get used to it quick. Remember it takes place in a computer generated
world and is probably done on purpose.
Ok,
this is the middle installment so there is no ending it just stops (like
LotR’s) so you have to wait till this November to see how it all ends.
Dreamcatcher - ***
This is the movie adaptation of the novel from Steven King of the same name. Not sure on how close the movie is to the book, because I’ve never read it. So, on to the film, it open’s with four best buds from high school that are getting ready for annual camp when one gets struck by a car dies, but comes back. Oh, did I mention they all belong in “Xavier’s School for the Gifted”. Then in comes the army lead MIB’s clean-up crew for a crashed UFO that is infecting every living thing with a red rash. About this time two of the high school reunion team runs into a hold over from “Parasite” with a better effect, more teeth. About this time an Alien takes over on of the friends and makes a run for the water supply to infest more people with the parasite.
There was a lot of flashback to when the four helped a friend from getting beat up and finding a lost girl, o joy, but this has a lot to do with the ending so pay attention. This best part was CG special effects of the aliens. The story was a little long with a lot of swipes from many other tales but over all not bad. If you have over two hours to waste, you will find that this will be a good movie to watch.
Now on to the best part of going to see “Dreamcatcher”, “Flight of the Osiris” a computer animated prelude to “Matrix Reloaded” that is showing with the trailers. This is some mind blowing visuals and I think the story has to do with the package that we are hearing about that plays a key part in Reloaded and the video game.
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind ***
This is an adaptation of the book by the same name that takes a surreal look at the history of Chuck Barris the creative force behind The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game and my all time favorite The Gong Show.
Sam Rockwell plays Barris’ eccentric nature to a perfection that makes you believe he could have worked for the CIA. This tale blends in the story of him freelancing as an assassin for the CIA in between producing his TV shows up to his nerves brake down.
“Confessions” is well rounded out with the outstanding supporting cast performances from Drew Barrymore, Julia Roberts, and George Clooney. Barrymore takes the role as Barris girlfriend and runs away with it. She just acts like she should be in the 70’s with all the free love and the hippie look. Roberts takes the classic sexy spy to the next level.
Also, this is Clooney’s first movie that he directed and I hope to see even more from him.
Ok, I liked this movie a lot, why wouldn’t I it’s about a TV producer that works on the side as a hit man.
Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The IMAX Experience ****
If you love AOTC, then you have to see it at an IMAX theatre. To see this movie on the tall eight story screen just takes your breath away. Just seeing Yoda over 40 feet high is worth the ticket, the cg comes over so much better then on a small screen with detail coming through so precise you could see different colors in his face. I thought the epic “Battle of Geonosis” looked far more over the top than the first time I saw it. With troopers, ships and droids fighting it out at the start of the Clone Wars in this grand fashion way is enough to top off this release. There was a draw back with this, some times the footage of the live actor’s faces looked a little blurred witch did stand out, but could be over looked.
The 12,000 watts of uncompressed sound gives it you a total emersion experience almost better than THX. You can hear every detail going on in the back ground amazingly clean and the explosion in the asteroid sequence sounded so kwel that it may replace my favorite sound effect from episode IV‘s the Death Star laser blast sound.
To accommodate the IMAX two hour film limit the movie had to be edited down to fit. The two major parts that were taken out was a part at the beginning with Yoda advising for protection of Padmé and some of the time when Anakin and Padmé were together on Naboo. This I think helped the flow of the movie. I always thought it was to long.
I thought after seeing
it at the Arena Grand Theatre’s (
The poster for this release sums up the whole experience “Size Matters not, except on an IMAX screen.”
http://www.starwars.com/episode-ii/imax/
I, Spy - *
This movie tries to live up to be a James Bond send-up but fails on every level. There’s a new stealth plane that is stolen by a weapons dealer played by Malcolm McDowell (Did he have a part in this film? You don’t really see him much.) and this is why Owen Wilson and Eddie Murphy team up to bring it back. Owen Wilson tries to hard to be a spy/hero but just fumbles on trough the part. Then there’s Eddie Murphy boxing champ character that is played to loud, over the top and changes to quick when he helps out
So just avoid this movie and watch an old episode of the TV
series instead. By the way this movie has little to do with the old
series.
The Ring ***
This movie had so much potential but just could not make it all the way to a classic horror flick. The story starts out like an “Urban Legend” knock off with a tale about a video tape that kills its viewers in seven days and a high school girl dropping dead of a hart attack. Her aunt happens to be reporter and goes investigating what happened. She finds the tape, watches it and then in comes all the weird video images that combine like some collage kids student film. This is the part that intrigued me the most about the movie. The different images, the lighting and camera angles make this eerie hunting effect for the eyes.
Naomi Watts (
I liked this movie a lot and recommend this for a fun Halloween movie to see this week. You have to see it to believe me, that way I’ll be around in seven days to see another movie for review, thanks.
The Tuxedo **
This is a strange paring this time out
for Jackie Chan with
Jennifer Love Hewitt, why does he always have to be teamed up with
another actor? Chan plays Jimmy Tong a taxi cab driver that gets hired
to chauffer a James Bond like agent Clark Devlin (Jason Isaacs). Then on
one outing Devlin gets hurt so Chan has step in to help save the world
by putting on the tuxedo that we find out that is super charged. This
gives Chan, who starts out as am ordinary person, super spy moves witch
you would expect from a Chan movie. Now it’s up to him to stop a
bottled water tycoon from taking over the world.
Added into this mix is new to the field agent played by
Jennifer Love Hewitt. When I first heard she was going to have this part
I did not think it would work, but I was wrong if not for her this would
have been a waste of a movie. She played the part to the fullest and I
enjoyed the character.
I can’t recommend this middle of the road action movie for everyone but there is enough action, a big surprise bit with James Brown that is so over the top and Hewitt
that made this movie just seem right.Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever **
Woo,
this is one of the most slowly moving action movie I have ever seen. I
came into this expecting so much more but only got a poorly edited video
game. This seemed like you were standing in line watching someone
playing a fighting action video game. This movie stars Antonio Banderas
as former FBI Agent Ecks and Lucy Liu who plays ex-DIA operative,
code-named Sever. There are a lot of nonsense that bring both of them
together to fight a common goal that I won’t get into just incase you
do go see this. But, I will let you in that Sever has kidnapped the son
of a “shadow government” big shot and she also knows about the
whereabouts of Ecks “dead” wife thus is the simple set up to this
movie.
On
the better side there are a lot of explosions, kewl display of weapons
and one mega fight between Lucy Liu and Ray Parks (X-Men’s Toad). So
overall I can’t recommend this unless you are a die hard action film
fan or don’t have anything else to do.
SPIDER-MAN *****
WOW, so now I know why this movie brought in $114
million this past weekend even with out my help, I was at the Star Wars
Celebration II. This is as close to a perfect comic book to screen adaptation
that has ever been made. The special effects are next to real just like the way
you would imagine Spidy swinging from buildings. But the bonus here is it also
has a good story to go with all the eyecandy that involves the relationship
between Peter Parker/Spider-Man and Mary Jane, just great.
The
movie starts with the origin of Spider-Man at the ill fated science class tour
where Peter Parker (Tobey Maguire) is bitten by a genetically created spider
while taking a picture of Mary Jane Watson (Kirsten Dunst) thus gaining the
powers of a spider. This is a flash back to the now classic story that is not
altered too much from the Stan Lee’s tale from forty years ago. The Green
Goblin is played brilliantly by Willem Dafoe whose performance captures the evil
split personality of this villain’s immense insaneness that harkens back to
the Joker in Batman. Spider-man vs.
The Green Goblin battles are some of the best action sequences that I have ever
seen in any movie yet.
With so much ripped strait from the comics it’s easy to see why so many people just love seeing it over and over. Sam Raimi has made a movie that truly is a comic book fan’s dream on the large screen, a must see movie for all.
Jason X **
Jason Voorhees is back in this Sci-Fi take on slasher movie. The beginning of the flix starts out in the year 2010 where Voorhees is being put in to cold storage because no one can figure out how to kill him. This is blotched witch allows the head of the research facilities played by Lexa Doig (Rommie on Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda) to be frozen also. Now the movie jumps to the year 2455 where a professor with his students on a field trip where they discover them frozen and transports them back to their spaceship. Now the film turns into an Alien wanabe horror in space movie. Lisa Ryder (Beka on Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda) has a turn around role with Lexa Doig in that she plays the android that kicks Jason's butt. Also, Kane Hodder puts on the mask for the fourth time.
If you go into this looking for a lot of gore as in past Friday the 13th movies it's not here, most of it's played off camera. The fx are really good for this low budget movie, with a spaceship crash into a space station not bad and the ending burnout fall looked fine. Wait for the DVD.
Resident Evil
Ok, every critic is saying how bad this movie sucks. I think they must have forgotten who is going to watch it. This movie is all that it was set out to be, just a live action version of the video game. You don’t need much plot, just a team of combat specialist to fight a horde of zombies and a monster with video game FX’s. There is a breach in a major corporations hidden underground research center and a lethal virus is released that turns everyone into zombies like in Dawn of the Dead. Then comes in the special unit team to find out why Hal’s daughter has shut the facility down. This is where Milla Jovovich enters as a security guard that has lost her memory in a new take on the shower scene. After the team shuts down the computer system all hell breaks lose and the zombies want to eat brains. There are a lot of video style action shots that keep this movie on a roller coaster ride through out this entire movie.
What more could you want on a Saturday
afternoon at the theatre but this total eye candy of a movie.
Queen of the Damned
This movie is an adaptation of Anne Rice's best-selling novel and third in the VAMPIRE CHRONICLES series. Got to say I’ve never read the books so I went into this movie total fresh of what was going to happen. Also this is different then most vampire movie that I’m used to. There was no Slayer to fight the “evil” vampires, no Buffy to be seen.
The Queen of the Damned deals with
vampires coming of age in the modern world and the resurrection of the mother of
all vampires, literally. The story is about Lestat a
vampire that wants to be alive. He uses a modern heavy metal band to get the
attention of other vampires by breaking the code of silence and going MTV. Along
the way his music awakes Akasha, the queen of all vampires played by Aaliyah who
wants him for her new king to rule the world together.
The special
effects are strait from of the Matrix with
all the quick movement and slowed down fight sequences. This gives it a kewl
look to the film that makes it work. Plus, the fast music video style editing
keeps it moving and moody at the same time.
Collateral Damage
Arnold Schwarzenegger returns in this much delayed released movie as a firefighter that must hunt down a terrorist that has killed his family. Do I have to say any more. This is a typical action fair with an aging Schwarzenegger looking to old for the part. This has been a problem with his last few of his films. The only thing that can save him is the new T3. See this only if you are a die hard Schwarzenegger fan.
http://collateraldamage.warnerbros.com/
Rollerball
The year is 2005 and a new sport called
Rollerball has taken the spotlight from wrestling. This new sport use skates and
motorcycles combined to make a loud game. The movie starts out with Chris Klien
being recruited by an old friend LL Cool J to go play for the Horsmen of Zhambal
in the country of
Just wait till the Sci-Fi Channel picks this up for a double play Saturday night with the original James Caan’s 1975 version.
http://www.rollerball.com/intro.html
Black Hawk Down
This is Ridley Scott's adaptation of the true war story by Mark Bowden based on the mission to extract Somali leaders that went wrong. This is the most realistic combat movie I have ever seen. The camera work used to capture the intense gunfight sequences were outstanding. This is similar to what was used in "Saving Private Ryan". The sound editing was amazing in how all the gunfire going off then it moves to silence to hear only what the director wanted you to hear then back to full action. This movie concentrates on the sacrifice and determination of each soldier reason they are in the military. This quote from the movie tells it all "its about the men next to you; that's all it is".
Go see this movie for a realistic look at modern combat.
Impostor
This B-movie is a futuristic thriller based on the 1953 short story from science fiction writer Philip K. Dick ("Blade Runner," "Total Recall"). The movie takes place in the year is 2079 were Spencer Olham (GARY SINISE) is a scientist whose working on a weapon to save the Earth from alien invaders. The world has become a bleak militaristic state enclosed under energy domes the give a Logan's Run look. He is suddenly accused of being an alien spy and becomes a fugitive from the law on the out side in a world torn from the Terminator. There are several homages to other movies like; the jumping through a grade witch looks like the "garbage shoot" scene from Star Wars and chase sequence strait from the Fugitive. This movie has a cool dark ending that you should be able to pick up easy. I love movies that have endings with a little shock to them.
Overall this was better than I thought it was going to turn out but if you’re not in to sci-fi than pass on seeing it.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Ok, if you have not seen this yet, get out and see it now. This is one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. The filming is so spectacular with shots huge and filled with much detail. It is one of the most pure eyecandy movies that I have seen sense the Star Wars films. The combination of live and CG is integrated with seamless accuracy and do not take away from the flow of the action. The story is close to the books with some liberties taken to keep the attention of movie going patrons. The cast is about right for this movie not sure whom I would have chosen if it were up to me. Liv Tyler's thin features helped her to be a cool looking Elf. The use of camera angles helps make the Hobbits look smaller than rest of the actors. An all of this came from the same director who brought us Meet the Feebles, Peter Jackson. It was smart for him to brake this story down to three movies and not try into cram it all into a small packaged movie, plus filming all of them at once is good economical thinking so as to get it completed while the materiel is still fresh.
If you have not figured it out I liked this movie a lot so go see it now. Can’t wait to see the next two.
Out Cold
Lee Majors returns from an eleven year drought from the movies to star in this pic about extreme snowboarding high jinx at a ski resort in Alaska. Bull Mountain has been passed down from Papa Muntz (the original ski slacker) to his son that is planning on selling it to Majors character that wants to turn it into Aspen like resort. The staff can’t hack the changes so the do what must be done to stop the transaction from happing.
Victoria Silvstedt has a walk on part as a Swedish stepdaughter of Lee Majors character to add some nice eye candy. There are some nice snowboarding shoots that look very impressive, especially the "King of the Mountain" race but there could have been more.
If you liked the movie "Hot Dog" you will really like this but overall wait for TV.
Mididdo, Omega Code 2
This is supposed to be a sequel to the Omega Code the came out in 1999, but it’s more of a remake with less emphasis on the Bible Code. Once again Michael York plays Stone Alexander the Anti-Christ with a more a Biblical touch then the last time out. The movie starts out in 1960 with Stone Alexander as a little boy that looks like he was taken right out of the movie "the Oman". Then moves on to slow for me with more back ground on him when he is in the military academy school. This time we learn that Stone Alexander has a brother David Alexander played by Michael Biehn who goes on to become arch rival with the world the prize. If you missed the first one don’t freat you can watch this one as a stand alone movie.
"Mididdo" has some stunning special effects and war sequences that are truly pulled of good. With all the tanks, planes, and helicopters the action is stunning real looking during the Apocalypse war at the end of the movie.
The Others
Nicole Kidman stars as Grace, a woman raising two children by herself in a creepy old mansion at the end of World War II. The first strange thing is the kids have to stay in the dark because they are deathly allergic to light. Next three weird people (an old man, a nanny who knows to much, and a mute girl) show up to take over for the staff that has disappeared. Oh, my. Then things get real creepy from there, all the different camera angles and the dark look just sets this a part from the average horror movie.
I’m not going to say much more as not to give away anything else, but Nicole Kidman (who I have been a fan for along time, anyone remember "BMX Bandits") looks better than Bruce Willis in "6th Sense".
Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back
Kevin Smith’s last look into the world of View Askew has most everyone from his last four movies. But the main stars of this flick are Jay and Silent Bob on a cross county journey to Hollywood to stop production on the "Bluntman and Chronic" movie featuring their comic book counterparts. On the way they run into all kinds of trouble but the best looking one is Shannon Elizabeth who is part of a quartet of female diamond thieves who use Jay and Silent Bob as a diversion on a heist. Also, Eliza Dushku (Faith from "Buffy" series) as a part as one of the sexy quartet. This action leads to Jay and Silent Bob teaming up with the orangutan from the end of Dogma.
When they make it to Hollywood there is no holding back on the inside laughs set on the lot of Mirmax. They crash every movie till they find the "Bluntman and Chronic" movie where Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker) is playing the villain set in the movie. They wind up fighting and there are a lot of Star Wars spoofs.
Great movie even if you have not seen the others.
Rush Hour 2
Jackie Chan re-teams with Chris Tucker for a second round of kung fu, action, adventure, and comedy for a second Rush Hour. This time the story starts out in Hong Kong where two American embassy employees are killed in a bombing. So Jackie Chan is called in to investigate with Chris Tucker tagging along from his vacation. They are looking for a Triad leader John Lone who maybe behind the bombing. Zhang Ziyi (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) plays the part of enforcer for the Triad leader who has a great on screen presence. The two heroes run into trouble left and right on there quest, having to fight in a massage parlor and on a cruise boat. Then they go to Los Vegas and team with Roselyn Scanchez who plays a beautiful undercover agent that helps the heroes fined out that its really about counter fit money. Brett Ratner also directs this one again.
Not bad for an American Ho-Ko action pic.
http://www.rushhour2.com/intro.html
American Outlaws
Ok, this is a lot better than what I thought going in. It’s not just another "Young Guns" with a bunch of no names. (Well close) This is a lose story of Jesse James legend with a little too much modern slang and style. If you look past the history part it’s not a bad western even though everyone is to clean. Big time explosions and gunfights highlight the action that takes too much from modern action movies when it happens. Ala Larter plays the girl friend of Jesse and is the best part to watch.
This bland movie just does not take it to far and is too nice of a movie for a true horse opera.
http://www.americanoutlaws.com/
Jurassic Park III
So, the dinosaurs are back. There is a new dinosaur (Spinosaurus) brought in to challenge T-Rex, big deal. The best new dino was the Ankylosaurus, even though it was only used as backdrop. This is the one that looks like a punk version of Gamara. Looks good. Oh, more about the movie plot… what plot? This time around it’s just a big chase sequence set on the test island from the second movie. Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) is hired to go on a tour that turns out to be rescue mission. Along this time for screams is Tea Leoni. I think she did not belong in that part. I always liked her in the old series "Naked Truth".
This movie dose not have much on story, just all the eye candy one needs on long hot summer day.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
This is the newest movie based on a video game. It stars Angelina Jolie as Lara Croft as the action adventure minded archeologist. This movie has all the thrills of any Bond or Indy Jones movie rolled into one, but that’s about all. The plot is simple enough, planets align – bad guys need relic to gain power to take over world, so not much thinking is required. It was real nice that Ms. Croft would have the first peace to bring in bad guys to her home and have BIG shot’em up sequence. Then it’s off to Cambodia for some great on location scenes.
If you really need some great eye candy, this is a must for you, great summer time fun.
http://www.tombraidermovie.com/splash_frames.html
Exit Wounds
WOW … Steven Seagal’s new action movie is a move back to his early days, but with high tech realistic digital graphics. Plus a lot of over the top stunts, car crashes and gunfights. So mix in DMX as a drug dealing crime boss as an advisory in the beginning and a bunch of bad cops to give Seagal a challenge. Even with addiction of Tom Arnold as a morning talk show host was just the comic touch to help with the flow of this pic.
What more do you want in an action movie. It is a fun ride through the whole movie. I hope Seagal keeps up this new pace.
Vertical Limit
I'm not sure why I went to see this movie? The trailers for it looked to much like the old movie Cliffhanger. (Friends of mine want to see it)
The movie starts out with a mountain climbing accident involving a brother, sister, & father that you can tell will foreshadow what is to happen later. Then it heads to the Himalayan mountains where the sister (Robin Tunney) has been hired by a rich thrill seeker (Bill Paxton) to clime the K2. Bad weather sets in, they get trapped, so now its up to "the boy wonder" brother (Chris O'Donnell) to put together a rag-tag rescue team to save the day.
It's directed by Martin Campbell (Mark of Zorro & Goldeneye) so the action is big and the effects are great. This helps a little when the acting gets lame. But the part with the nitroglycerin is just to stupid. Overall I did have fun watching this movie, but if you don't like your movies on a "B" level this one might not be for you.
At lest its better than Cliffhanger. **1/2
http://www.spe.sony.com/movies/verticallimit/
Copyright © 2001 - 2007 Kat Video Production