Ong Bak 2 Trailer Online

Thanks to our friends over at Twitch we find ourselves blessed with a trailer for the much anticipated Ong Bak 2.

Though this movie has nothing to do with the first one, it promises to have as much bad dialogue and weak story. And we wont care. It will still be made of awesome.

For those of you who were lucky and wise enough to see it, you know that Ong Bak was one of the most visually (in action terms) spectacular martial arts films in history. It introduced us all to Tony Jaa, who is the one true heir to the Jackie Chan throne. In Ong Bak, there were no stunt men, no wires and no visual effects… all the stunts and action you saw were REAL and all done by Jaa himself. The man is a total freak of nature.

The story of Ong Bak was horrible as was all the dialog… but no one who saw it cared. The action was second to none. I thought for sure we’d see a bunch of North American producers pick Jaa up for some bad guy roles in Hollywood films, but that never materialized. Too bad.

Anyway, now comes word of Ong Bak 2. Jaa is back! Our friends over at RopeOfSilicon give us this:

this film has nothing to do with the plot of the first film, which, if you remember, involved Jaa hunting down some men that stole the head of from his town’s Buddha statue. If you haven’t seen it or even heard of it you really should check it out, Jaa is a kick-ass fighter. Twitch tells us, in this one Jaa stars in a period piece as a poor orphan boy raised by a collection of martial arts masters from across Asia and ends up an expert in all, fusing the styles into one comprehensive fighting style.

Sure… why not… sign me up. All I care about is seeing Jaa kick insane amounts of ass! By the way, if you’d like to see a larger version of the poster, you can go here.

10 Harrison Ford Films You Must See Where He’s Not Named Indy Or Han

Although it may be true that Harrison Ford hasn’t done (aside from Indiana Jones 4) a good film in over 10 years, there is no denying that the man has had one of the best careers Hollywood has ever seen. Up till the end of the 1990’s Ford was the preeminent Hollywood movie star. Consider some of the following:

1994 - ShoWest “Box Office Star of the Century”
1999 - Peoples Choice Awards “All Time Favorite Movie Star”
2000 - AFI “Lifetime Achievement Award
2002 - Golden Globe Awards “Cecil B DeMille Lifetime Achivement Award”
And many many awards and nominations for individual films he’s done

Now you’d be forgiven if all you instantly thought of was “Star Wars” or “Indiana Jones” films when Harrison’s name is brought up. After all, they are two of the single most important and popular franchises in film history. But Ford’s film resume and legacy go beyond the names Han Solo or Indiana Jones, and as the years pass on, I’m finding there are more and more film fans out there who have never seen some of his best work.

So with Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull opening, I thought this would be a good time to highlight 10 Harrison Ford films that you absolutely must see where Ford’s character isn’t named either “Indy” or “Han”. Here we go:

SABRINA (1995)
Also Starring - Julia Ormond, Greg Kinnear

Quite possibly my favorite romantic comedy of all time and one of the pieces of evidence that remakes can be just as good or even better than the original. Ford was nominated for Best Actor and the Golden Globes for his performance. This movie is gold. And guys… it’s also a great date movie… trust me.

Synopsis: ” Sydney Pollack directs this whimsical remake of the 1954 romantic comedy by Billy Wilder. Greg Kinnear and Harrison Ford deftly portray the two wealthy Larrabee brothers, who end up fighting over the affections of their chauffeur’s daughter. When Sabrina (Julia Ormond) originally attempts to win over David Larrabee (Greg Kinnear), the younger of the two brothers, and the notorious playboy whom her father works for, he barely even knows she’s alive. To help get her mind off David, Sabrina’s dad sends her on a trip to Paris, where she trains to become a fashion photographer. In Europe, the mousy young girl blossoms into a beautiful woman before returning to the Larrabee estate on Long Island. At first David doesn’t recognize the altered Sabrina. Once he does, however, he falls hard, which jeopardizes his impending marriage to Elizabeth, a wealthy doctor. This turn of events greatly concerns his older, more serious brother, Linus (Harrison Ford), who’s counting on the marriage to cement a merger between his company and a business owned by Elizabeth’s rich father. So Linus decides to woo Sabrina, hoping she’ll fall for him and forget his brother. However, the scheme backfires when Linus himself begins to find the charming Sabrina irresistible.”

BLADE RUNNER (1982)
Also Starring - Rutger Hauer, Sean Young

I’ll admit that while I myself and not a big fan of this film, there is no denying the huge following and massive influence this movie has had. Considered by many to be one of the very best Sci-Fi films of all time and a visionary piece of work by director Ridley Scott. To be a part of any sci-fi discussion it’s a prerequisite that you watch this film.

Synopsis: ” Director Ridley Scott’s hauntingly prescient vision of the not-too-distant future stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a retired police assassin, or “blade runner.” The Los Angeles of 2019 is a dark, polluted, overcrowded dystopia dominated by cloud-piercing buildings and looming neon… Director Ridley Scott’s hauntingly prescient vision of the not-too-distant future stars Harrison Ford as Rick Deckard, a retired police assassin, or “blade runner.” The Los Angeles of 2019 is a dark, polluted, overcrowded dystopia dominated by cloud-piercing buildings and looming neon billboards, the air dense with acid rain and flying traffic. World-weary Deckard has been called out of retirement to liquidate four escaped “replicants”–genetically derived androids of great strength, intelligence, and nearly-human emotion who serve as slaves and prostitutes in the off-planet colonies. Led by Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), they’ve come to Los Angeles to confront their designer, Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel), with their unhappiness about the brevity of their four-year life span. In the course of his search, Deckard becomes romantically entwined with Tyrell’s lovely assistant, Rachael (Sean Young), and must eventually confront Batty in an unforgettable rain-soaked sequence. A highly influential fusion of the science fiction and noir genres based on the novel DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? by Philip K. Dick, this postmodern film boasts astonishingly rich art direction, juxtaposing ingenious technological gadgetry with yellowing photographs and fetishistic objets d’art as it touches on questions of time, memory, identity, and mortality. Different from Scott’s 1992 director’s cut, this widely released edition of the film, which features Ford’s narration and an ending culled from footage of Stanley Kubrick’s THE SHINING, remains the most well known version of this stunning cinematic landmark.”

THE FUGITIVE (1993)
Also Starring - Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pantoliano

Who says all movies based on old TV shows can’t work? The Fugitive proves that theory wrong. Ford nabbed himself a Best Actor nomination at the Golden Globes for his role in this film… which also happens to be the second best critically reviewed film in his career (something like a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes) and is also probably my favorite film of his outside Indy or Han. Tommy Lee Jones is also un-freaking-believable in this movie.

Synopsis: ” In this near-perfect suspense movie adapted from the popular 1960s television series that starred David Janssen, renowned vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) has been falsely accused and convicted–on circumstantial evidence–of his wife’s (Sela Ward) murder. While… In this near-perfect suspense movie adapted from the popular 1960s television series that starred David Janssen, renowned vascular surgeon Dr. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford) has been falsely accused and convicted–on circumstantial evidence–of his wife’s (Sela Ward) murder. While Kimble is being transported to prison, another convict stabs an inattentive guard, causing a massive wreck. Kimble escapes but is hunted by tough U.S. marshal Sam Gerard (Tommy Lee Jones). The fugitive from injustice attempts to set the record straight: He transforms himself into a jack-of-all-trades and a man of a thousand faces in a desperate attempt to uncover the truth about his wife’s murder and track down the real killer. Spectacular special effects and a pulse-pounding performance by Ford turned Andrew Davis’s thrilling film into a blockbuster at the box office, leading to a sequel, U.S. MARSHALS.”

CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER (1994)
Also Starring: Anne Archer, James Earl Jones

One of the Jack Ryan films where Ford picked up the role from Alec Baldwin (who did a great job with it himself in Hunt For Red October). This film also featured one of the very BEST screen bad guys of the 90’s with actor Joaquim de Almeida as a Columbian Drug Lord.

Synopsis: ” Patriotic American Jack Ryan’s (Harrison Ford) just been promoted to Deputy Director of Intelligence for the CIA. But before he can adjust to the demands of his position as advisor to the President, Jack’s got to investigate a massacre that took the lives of several dignitaries. Probing relentlessly, Jack uncovers the disturbing truth about criminal activities involving an international drug cartel and a close friend of the United States President. Based on Tom Clancy’s bestselling novel.”

AIR FORCE ONE (1997)
Also Starring - Gary Oldman, Glenn Close

Just a good, solid, slightly cheesy “rah rah USA USA” type of film with Ford as the President who doesn’t take crap. A very fun film that had a lot of potential to be terrible but ended up being a really great movie. Sadly, this film also marked that last good movie Ford would do, and the last good performance he would give up until Indy 4.

Synopsis: ” President James Marshall (Harrison Ford) is one of the most respected leaders in the history of America. When Kazakhstanian separatists commit atrocities on their own people, Marshall authorizes a guerrilla mission to take their leader, General Radek (Jürgen Prochnow), into custody and restore the democratic regime. In his speech afterward, the president vows never to let America hesitate again when dealing with terrorists. However, that’s before a group of them, led by the ruthless Korchunov (Gary Oldman) take over his own flight on Air Force One, with his wife and young daughter also on board. President Marshall, a decorated Vietnam veteran, becomes a one-man vigilante force in his efforts to free his family and the other hostages, retake the plane, and thwart the hijackers. Director Wolfgang Petersen’s thrilling film is supported by an excellent ensemble cast, which includes William H. Macy, Philip Baker Hall, and Glenn Close as Kathryn Bennett, the vice president who must hold the Cabinet together in Marshall’s absence.”

PATRIOT GAMES (1992)
Also Starring - James Earl Jones, Sean Bean

These Jack Ryan films are all great (yes, I even liked the one with Ben Affleck), and once again they come up with a fantastic bad guy. Sean Bean as the disgruntled Irish terrorist was just amazing in this film. It had everything you could possibly want from a political thriller. It was intense, exciting and all with great performances. The funny thing about this movie was that I didn’t even realize it was a sequel to Hunt For Red October until James Earl Jones showed up on screen the first time I saw it! :P

Synopsis: ” Ex-CIA agent Jack Ryan (Harrison Ford) is forced back into service when he saves the lives of the English minister to Northern Ireland and his family from a terrorist attack, killing one of the perpetrators in the process. The dead man’s brother, also a member of an IRA splinter faction, vows revenge on Ryan and his family and pursues them to the United States. Ryan knows it is only a matter of time till he comes face to face with his nemesis… and that only one of them will come out alive. Based on Tom Clancy’s bestselling novel.”

WORKING GIRL (1988)
Also Starring - Melanie Griffith, Sigourney Weaver

This was really Melanie Griffith’s movie, but Harrison was the male lead. In incredibly hilarious film that surprisingly still stands up today after 20 years. The immortal words “I have a head for business and a bod for sin. Is there anything wrong with that? ” were uttered in this flick and let me tell you… truer words were never spoken. Yet another example of Ford’s diversity as an actor.

Synopsis: ” A young secretary (Melanie Griffith in an Oscar-nominated performance) with dreams of moving up the corporate ladder thinks that her brains will help her achieve her goals. And when she finds a job with a seemingly helpful and sympathetic boss–who’s also a woman (played by Sigourney Weaver)–it looks as if she’s on her way. But it turns out the executive is slimy and duplicitous, stealing the secretary’s clever ideas to further her own career. Now the furious secretary’s determined to get revenge–and her plan may not only propel her to the top of the heap but get her a husband too (Harrison Ford). Mike Nichols directed this workplace comedy with a light, smart touch, getting terrific performances from his excellent cast.”

WITNESS (1985)
Also Starring - Kelly McGillis, Alexander Godunov

The single highest critically rated film on Ford’s resume… I’m actually surprised this movie doesn’t get mentioned more in various “all time greatest movies” discussions. Ford was nominated for both the Oscar and the Golden Globe for this brilliant film that has been spoofed, mimicked and flat out ripped off by several other films since. It’s not just a crime mystery… it’s also a great character study in its own way. Touching, thrilling and great tension all toped off with a couple of solid character dilemmas throughout the movie. MUST SEE!

Synopsis: ” Australian Peter Weir’s first Hollywood film tells the story of John Book (Harrison Ford), a Philadelphia cop whose life is altered while trying to help Rachel (Kelly McGillis), an Amish woman, and her son Samuel (Lukas Haas), who witnesses a murder in a Philadelphia train station bathroom. After discovering that the murder was committed by a member of his force, Book travels to Lancaster County with Rachel and Samuel and poses as a member of the Amish community to hide from his murderous police peers. While there, love blooms between Rachel and Book, and he finds himself drawn in by the honesty and simplicity of the old-world Amish lifestyle. Fine performances and beautiful cinematography are prevalent throughout.”

REGARDING HENRY (1991)
Also Starring - Annette Bening

Certainly not the most well recieved or critically acclaimed film on Ford’s impressive list… I nonetheless really loved this movie and think it’s the film that Harrison Ford really showed what he was capable of as an actor. Not an action flick, not a comedy, not another character where he gives you a wink and a smile… this was some great stuff from Ford and a performance he simply doesn’t get enough credit for in my opinion. If you appreciate Ford, you really owe it to yourself to see him in this one.

Synopsis: ” Henry Turner (Harrison Ford), a wealthy, high-powered, highly successful Manhattan lawyer, seems to have everything — a perfect wife (Annette Bening), a perfect daughter, a perfect life. In fact, Henry is completely cold, rigid and unable to experience love or joy in his day-to- day existence. Everything changes, however, when Henry is gunned down in an act of random violence, and must undergo a slow, difficult recovery. In the process of relearning the most basic skills — walking, reading, getting dressed in the morning — Henry discovers something even more important: how to love his family and friends again and how to find true happiness in life.”

THE MOSQUITO COAST (1986)
Also Starring - Helen Mirren, River Phoenix

Another one of those films where Ford shows he’s more than just a handsome face with a scoundrel smile and seductive charm. Ford acts his heart out in The Mosquito Coast and it really come across in every single scene. Ford got Nominated for the Golden Globe Award for his performance as well. Of interesting note… see this and you get to see a younger Helen Mirren (The Queen). Damn this woman has aged so fricking well!

Synopsis: ” A brilliant and obsessive inventor, fed up with capitalistic and consumeristic modern society, picks up and moves his family to an isolated Caribbean island, where he puts his ideas into practice. Under his guidance, his new home at first becomes a paradise, but bit by bit, both his mind and his world begin to fall apart. ”

CONCLUSION - It’s a shame that with the success of Star Wars and Indiana Jones, many new film fans (say… 25 or younger) haven’t seen some of the films on this list… even some of us older fans haven’t seen a few of them. I recommend them all. Run out to Blockbuster and grab 2 or 3 of them you haven’t seen and treat yourself this weekend!

Ranking The Best To Worst Of M. Night

With “The Happening” coming this weekend (too bad it’s going up against The Incredible Hulk), our eyes are once again turned to that very unique filmmaker (hey… love him or hate him, you’ve got to admit he certainly does have his own style), The ShamHammer himself, M. Night Shyamalan.

So in honor of his forthcoming release, I thought it would be fun to look back on his films up to this point and rank them in order of best to worst. Now let me give this quick disclaimer… for most people, M. Night Shyamalan came into existence with The Sixth Sense, even thought he did have 2 films before that (Praying with Anger and Wide Awake)… so for the purposes of this post, were just going to look at the career of Shyamalan starting with Sixth Sense.

I’ve gone on record many times and said that I believe that M. Night Shyamalan’s films have gotten progressively worse and worse since that break out with Sixth Sense. As I’ve put my list here together though… I’ve come to realize that isn’t actually 100% true… you’ll see what I mean.

M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN’S FILMS FROM BEST TO WORST

1) THE SIXTH SENSE

There are good movies… and then there are movies that effect their audiences so much (either with fear, laughter, shock, excitement… whatever) that they go beyond being just a film, and become a part of the pop-culture fabric itself. And it wasn’t even just the catch line “I see dead people” either. The whole film was brilliantly orchestrated. The screenplay was only outdone by the direction. And the ending redefined what a “twist” came to mean. As a matter of fact… now whenever you mention a “twist ending”, people everywhere generally think about Sixth Sense… as a matter of fact, I’ve read some critics now who just refer to a twist ended as “pulling a sixth sense”. A fantastic, well thought out, creepy and haunting film. Truly the Shamhammer’s coming out party, and unquestionably his best film by miles.

2) SIGNS

In this film, M. Night Shyamalan showed us that he understood the most important thing about directing a “horror” or scary film. That one thing is understanding that what the audience DOESN’T see, will scare them a whole hell of a lot more than what they DO see if the atmosphere and environment are set up properly. That damn scene where Mel Gibson is out in the corn fields looking around and just BARELY catches a glimpse of a foot as it disappears into the field was AWESOME! BRILLIANT shot selection. But it wasn’t just the disappearing foot… it was the atmosphere that Shammy already set up. Very good characters, very good scares…. all almost wasted by a terrible ending… but overall still a solid film.

3) UNBREAKABLE

This is where my “progressively worse” theory hits a snag. Unbreakable actually came out before Signs… I feel Signs is just ahead of it in quality. Unbreakable was a very interesting idea… a very different kind of Superhero movie. Bruce Willis’ character is a fantastic one, and the slow unraveling of his mystery is well crafted. However, i think this film get over hyped for it’s INTENTION rather than it’s actual results. Samuel L Jackson’s character could have been one of the best ever… but he ends up being just so lame… so silly… and I’ll say it… so comic booky, that after a while he just got annoying. Another terrible ending (I’m sorry, but Jackson’s big plan reveal at the end was so ridiculous that it wasted much of the great set up of the film) too. Unbreakable had the makings of being a great movie… had the potential of being a great movie… had all the elements of being a great movie… but in its execution it feel to the floor of being a pretty good movie…. sort of.

4) THE VILLAGE

To me, The Village was the film where the proverbial shoe dropped for M. Night Shyamalan. A movie whose ending I (and many other people) predicted literally almost 2 months before the film opened. An M. Night Shyamalan film without any sense of suspense or surprise becomes a very thin and very empty experience. The Village also lacked any compelling characters like his previous films had and instead relied on character gimmicks to make them appear interesting. The movie seemed to come from a great idea (as most of Shammy’s films do), but didn’t really have a clear idea of how to cultivate that idea into a solid narrative (which to be fair… isn’t easy). The first legitimately “bad” M. Night Shyamalan film… but unfortunately it would not be his last, nor would it be his worst. There was still “Lady In The Water” to come.

5) LADY IN THE WATER

In the months leading up to the release of “Lady In The Water”, I wrote a post called “John’s 5 Most Anticipated Movies Of 2006” in which I acknowledged that Shammy had been losing it, and totally screwed the dog with “The Village”, but that Lady In The Water looked good to me and it made it to the #5 spot on my list. Little did I know that what I was going to get instead was one of the worst motion pictures in history. No really. What was on my most anticipated list ended up ranking at #1 in my “Worst Movies Of 2007” list. Here’s what I said about Lady In The Water in that post:

“Lady in the Water embodies the downfall of M. Night Shyamalan and all the things that led to it. Without a doubt the most self absorbed, self serving and self praising piece of cinematic garbage to dirty the screen this year. What starts off with a promising concept and mythology, quickly gets flushed down the toilet with witless banter, massive logic jumps, poor story telling all of which was almost drowned out by the loud sound of M. Night patting himself on the back. A total mess from start to finish, Lady in the Water shows us what can happen when a director without all that much credits to his name starts believing all his own press. Easily, the worst film of 2006.”

So now we come to “The Happening”. Early word hasn’t been promising and in general we just don’t hear people buzzing about this film like we’re used to seeing before the release of a Shammy movie. We’ll have to see how it turns out. One thing I will say is this… great talent just doesn’t disappear. M. Night Shyamalan has proved he has talent with films like Sixth Sense, Signs and to a lesser degree Unbreakable. So what has happened to him? Personally I think his ego and rejection of studio input are the main culprits… but that’s just speculation on my part. So while I’m not excited to see “The Happeneing” this week, I am nonetheless interested in seeing what that good ol’ ShamHammer has come up with now.

So how about you? How would you rank Shammy’s films? Do you think he’s lost it? Do you still have faith in him? What are you expecting from The Happening? Let us know in the comments section.

The 10 Best Castings In Comic Book Movies

As I was reading through some of my favorite movie sites this morning, I came across a great little article over at Cinematical where they listed what they thought were some of the best Superhero casting decisions in film (you can check their article out over here. I didn’t agree with much of it, so I thought instead of critiquing their list, I’d just give my own.

DON’T FORGET… THIS LIST IS NOT ABOUT THE BEST MOVIES… nor is it about who ended up doing the best job. That’s all 20/20 hindsight. The list for for who was the best casting choices going INTO the movies in question.

Feel free to add your own picks in the comments section below:

1) PATRICK STEWART (Professor X)

This is hands down, without question and without any doubt the single most “perfect” casting decisions in comic book movie history. Patrick Stewart was genetically bread to play professor Charles Xavier. Long before they even thought about doing an X-Men movie, for over 10 years whenever any discussion came up about “dream casting for an X-Men movie”, Patrick Stewart was ALWAYS at the top of the lists. No question, Patrick Stewart as X is the best casting in a Comic Book movie of all time.

2) ROBERT DOWNEY JR (Tony Stark/Iron Man)

There was a lot of speculation floating around regarding who would play Iron Man once they announced they were moving ahead with the movie (as there always is with these Comic Book films), but one name that no one really thought about was Robert Downey Jr. until they announced that he would indeed play Tony Stark. It caught everyone by surprise… but once his name was announced everyone stood up and said “Holy crap that’s PERFECT!” And indeed it was perfect. The key to pulling off Iron Man was pulling off Tony Stark… and if Tony Stark really was alive in the real world… his name would be Robert Downey Jr.

3) RON PERLMAN (Hellboy)

Not a lot of people in the mainstream movie going audience were familiar with who or what Hellboy was before the movie version came out. But for those who DID know who and what Hellboy was, the announcement of Ron Perlman as big Red seemed as obvious as the answer to the question “excuse me sir, would you like a blow job?” YES! The voice, the mannerisms and to some degree even the physical stature all screamed Hellboy. Brilliant casting.

4) GENE HACKMAN (Lex Luthor)

Really, what can be said about Gene Hackman that hasn’t been said a thousand times before? Already a world renowned actor having won the Oscar for best actor in 1972, Hackman brought credibility to a very risky film in 1978… Superman. he made being the bad guy in a comic book movie a cool thing. Well… let’s be honest… anything that Gene Hackman does automatically becomes “the cool thing”. The guy could masturbate in a children’s playground and it would suddenly become socially acceptable.

5) CHRISTIAN BALE (Bruce Wayne/Batman)

There is no more coveted role in the comic book genre than that of the Batman. However, the role also became one of the biggest risks ever since it had been practically ruined by the George Clooney effort and to some degree the Val Kilmer one too (Don’t get me wrong, I thought they were both good castings too… but the last movie was SOOOO bad it almost single andedly killed the comic book genre of movies all together until X-Men resurrected it). Again, like Downey, Bale’s name was not one of the top one’s being thrown around at all… but when they announced him, people who knew Bale’s work stood and cheered. It was a bit of a gamble, but we knew it was a great choice.

6) EDWARD NORTON (Bruce Banner/The Hulk)

Ok, so we’ve got this character… he’s an almost middle aged, skinny but cerebral and intense character… any ideas? Yeah… how about Edward god damn Norton! in casting the lead character for The Incredible Hulk, you don’t cast for the Hulk… you cast for Dr. David Banner, and if you can make it one of the best actors in the business today, then that’s a bonus. Getting Edward Norton on board brought some instant and much needed credibility to the new Hulk film that so many people thought was a bad idea. An excellent choice and a bold risk for Norton to take.

7) KEVIN SPACEY (Lex Luthor)

Lex makes a second appearance on this list. No one, and I mean no one wasn’t excited and pumped when the word came out that Kevin Spacey was going to play Lex Luthor. But unlike Robert Downey Jr in Iron Man… Spacey’s casting came as no surprise. People had been calling out for Spacey to play the iconic villain for years ever since they saw him as the fake Dr. Evil in Austin Powers 2 (how weird is that?). Getting him on board to play the antagonist was a no brainer.

8) THOMAS JANE (Frank Castle/The Punisher)

This was one of those situations where I really couldn’t properly see anyone playing the main character… until they said it was going to be Thomas Jane. The dude (in my opinion) was the perfect guy to bring The Punisher to flash and bone life. No offense intended to Dolph Lungren fans (hehe). Great decision for a not so familiar comic book character to main stream audiences.

9) TOBEY MAGUIRE (Peter Parker/Spider-Man)

This one falls much into the same category as the Hulk casting. When getting your guy, you don’t think about Spider-Man per se. You focus on getting your Peter Parker. Someone who could still pull off a screen presence and could act… but he has to be Peter Parker. Getting Tobey Maguire in the role fulfilled that mission VERY well. Maguire brought name recognition with him as well to the part which is always something studios want with their multi-million dollar investments in a comic franchise if they can get it.

10) JENNIFER GARNER (Elektra)

What’s that you say? You need an absolutely beautiful and stunning woman who will look great in tight leather, but can also kick insane amounts of ass? Hmmmm… sounds like a job for Sydney Bristow from Alias, Jennifer Garner became famous for traveling around the world as Bristow, beating the living hell out of evil agents and super spies… and holy crap he’s in INSANE shape too. She also was a big name at the time which helped. You may not like how Daredevil turned out (personally I liked it) but you’ve got to admit she was THE choice to play that role.

Son of Rambow Review

Thanks for checking out our Son of Rambow review. If you’d like, you can watch the video version of our Son of Rambow review at the bottom of this post.

When I first heard about Son of Rambow it seemed like a cute idea, but probably one of those “throw away” festival films. I was also quite confused by the spelling of “Rambow” at first (The proper spelling is RAMBO), so I just assumed it was meant as a simple child’s typo in the film. So was this a simple throw away festival movie? NO! Son of Rambo is my new favorite film of 2008. Yes, it’s really that good.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The film’s synopsis looks something like this: “SON OF RAMBOW is the name of the home movie made by two little boys with a big video camera and even bigger ambitions. Set on a long English summer in the early 80’s, SON OF RAMBOW is a comedy about friendship, faith and the tough business of growing up. We see the story through the eyes of Will, the eldest son of a fatherless Plymouth Brethren family. The Brethren regard themselves as God’s ‘chosen ones’ and their strict moral code means that Will has never been allowed to mix with the other ‘worldlies,’ listen to music or watch TV, until he finds himself caught up in the extraordinary world of Lee Carter, the school terror and maker of bizarre home movies. Carter exposes Will to a pirate copy of Rambo: First Blood and from that moment Will’s mind is blown wide open and he’s easily convinced to be the stuntman in Lee Carters’ diabolical home movie. Will’s imaginative little brain is not only given chance to flourish in the world of film making, but is also very handy when it comes to dreaming up elaborate schemes to keep his partnership with Lee Carter a secret from the Brethren community. Will and Carter’s complete disregard for consequences and innocent ambition means that the process of making their film is a glorious rollercoaster that eventually leads to true friendship. They start to make a name for themselves at school as movie makers but when popularity descends on them in the form of the Pied Piper-esque French exchange student, Didier Revol, their unique friendship and their precious film are pushed, quite literally, to breaking point.”

THE GOOD

This film is such a stew of goodness it’s difficult to pick out the individual parts that make it so wonderful. The first thing I’ll mention is the amazing job done by the film’s child actor lead Bill Milner. As the young child brought up in the hyper religious family with a colorful and vivid imagination, Bill’s pure charm and wonder leaves you totally drawn into his story. You love this kid from the moment he comes onto the screen. There is something so special about a character who approaches the world with such a sense of innocence that the beauty of everything, even 80’s action films, ignites their imaginations and sense of wonder. It reminds us of how we once saw the world, how we wish we could see it again and how despite our years of being embittered and jaded parts of the world still actually is if we allow ourselves to see it.

Director Garth Jennings (who also directed the massively disappointing film “Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy” a few years ago, does a MASTERFUL job at brining the story to us. It’s hard enough to tell a compelling story and bring out good performances with adult professional actors… it’s got to be next to impossible to make a film that is meant to be meaningful, touching, funny and beautiful with almost an exclusively child cast. But somehow, some way, Jennings does it.

The film is funny. From the opening credits I had an idiot grin on my face. 4 or 5 big laugh out loud moments, with plenty of giggles throughout. Not bad for a film that wasn’t primarily a comedy.

THE BAD

An inherent drawback of working with child actors is that sometimes emotionally charged scenes can come off a little cheesy or forced. For the most part Son of Rambow manages for avoid this, but there were 2 or 3 occasions that it does pop its head up. Aside from that, I have no complaints.

OVERALL

Son of Rambow is a witty, charming and beautiful little movie. It’s so rare that child actors can actually fully carry a movie, and yet the ones who populate the world of Rambow do a fantastic job. You cheer for them, cry a little for them, laugh with them and just love them. I LOVED this film. Treat yourself and go see it this weekend. Overall I give Son of Rambow a 9 out of 10

You can view the video version of our Son of Rambow review here:

Redbelt Review

Thanks for checking out our Redbelt review. If you’d like, you can watch the video version of our Redbelt review at the bottom of this post.

I’ve been a huge fan of Mixed Martial Arts ever since I saw UFC #2 many many years ago. I still remember very vividly watching Royce Graice, a skinny little guy absolutely mow through men 2 and 3 times his size and weight. All these flashy fighters with their punches, flying kicks and spinning back fists were all made totally useless as Gracie always got them on the ground (where their flying kicks were meaningless), tied them up like a cobra, and then would either choke them out or make them tap (give up). Suddenly the world knew about Jiu-Jitsu and the real world of MMA was born.

So when you bring along a movie that appears to focus on the art, and it stars Chiwetel Ejiofor (who I’ve been a huge fan of ever since seeing him in Serenity a couple of years back) it instantly gets my attention. And so here comes “Redbelt”.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Redbelt looks like this: “Tim Allen and Chiwetel Ejiofor star in writer/director David Mamet’s martial arts drama concerning a jujitsu master who becomes corrupted by the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. When a respected jujitsu master (Ejiofor) eschews a lucrative prizefighting career in favor of opening a self-defense dojo, it appears that he has chosen a peaceful path in life. The dedicated martial artist’s fate takes an unanticipated turn, however, when he is manipulated into participating in ultimate fighting championships by a group of unscrupulous actors and fight promoters. Later, as the master is being relentlessly beaten in a dirty street fight, he connects with a high-profile action star (Allen) with serious marital problems. Realizing that the only way to regain his honor is to step into the ring, the jujitsu master reluctantly prepares for the fight of his life.”

THE GOOD

Surprise surprise, Chiwetel Ejiofor is fantastic in it. Not only did he look convincing performing the martial arts (which is often a big flaw in many of these types of movies) he also just gives a great performance. A troubled warrior who is trying to lead a peaceful existence suddenly confronted with doubt, adversity, betrayal and the weaknesses in his own character as well. Very well played.

One of the worst things about any sort of “fight” movie (karate, boxing, street fighting, whatever) is that they often look good, but have zero levels of believability because every single punch or kick that gets thrown would knock out a normal human being… and these fights inevitably end up having massive haymakers landing with every shot. Redbelt avoids that trapping and just has the fights look like real fights without the flashy glamour of knock out power shots with every punch. It’s not as flashy to look at on screen, but it adds to the authentic feel.

Surprisingly enough Tim Allen wasn’t that bad in the film. I rolled my eyes the moment I heard he was in this, but I’ve got to admit he was pretty good. It was a different sort of character for him and he did it pretty well.

THE BAD

If the combat looked believable in the movie… then that was the only believable part of the whole damn thing. The plot was so full of imagination defying nonsense and unrealistic scenarios that I spent a good part of the movie with my face buried in my hands. It’s hard to go into it too much without crossing into spoiler territory… but it just seemed like EVERYTHING that happened in the movie was not the way it would have happened in real life. It was so bad… gaahhhhh!!! I can’t say way it was bad because it would be a train of spoilers. Let me put it like this: The concept and general idea of the film were quite good… but the actual fleshing out and execution of the story was pathetic.

Aside from Chiwetel, all the characters were paper thin as far as depth goes.

OVERALL

Redbelt is a terrible movie that is ALMOST saved by authentic looking martial arts with a great character and a wonderful performance given to that character. Everything else surrounding that character was an unbelievable insult to human intelligence. So while there are some redeeming qualities to the film, I ended up just hating the flick. Overall I’m giving Redbelt a 3.5 out of 10.

You can watch the video version of our Redbelt review here:

Iron Man Review

Thanks for checking out our Iron Man Review. If you’d like, you can watch the video version of our Iron Man review at the bottom of this post:

Well, it’s finally here, and now I get to do (a little late) my Iron Man review. It’s been well documented around there that when they first announced that they were doing an Iron Man movie, I thought it was a terrible idea. To be frank, I don’t even think Iron Man is much of a comic book character… really nothing much more than a poor man’s version of Batman (Oh gee whiz… a superhero with no actual powers who is a rich multi-billionare who uses his money to buy gadgets that he uses to fight crime. Why does that sound so familiar?)

But then news started coming out about the decisions they were making. Jon Favreau coming on to direct, ILM doing the visual efects, Jeff Bridges cast as the “bad guy”, Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark…. it looks like they were doing everything right. Then the first trailer came out and it won me over…. I’ve been looking forward to Iron Man ever since and so have a lot of other people. So did it live up to the hype? HELL YES!

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis of Iron Man looks something like this: “Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is the CEO of Stark Industries which produces advance weapon systems for the U.S. military. Tony’s father started the company after WWII, and after his death Tony inherited the company, worth billions. Tony lives the life as a hard drinking, rich playboy ladies man, but he is also a genius who has invented many high-tech items for the company. Tony flies to Afghanistan to demonstrate a new weapons test to the army. On his way back to his plane, his convoy is attacked by terrorists, and Tony is wounded by a Stark Industries missile. Tony is captured and held hostage in a cave with Raza (Faran Tahir), a doctor who saves his life. The terrorists force Tony and Raza to reproduce the new destructive Jericho missile Tony was demonstrating from parts of other weapons. Instead, Tony decides to build a suit of armor with Razas help. The suit gives Tony the strength and protection to be able to escape the terrorists. Back in America, Tony builds a better suit of armor which gives him superhuman strength with the ability to fly. With the help of his personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), Tony vows to protect the world as Iron Man.”

THE GOOD

Let’s start with Robert Downey Jr. It’s amazing that his name was never even mentioned in most online discussion about “who should play Iron Man”? And yet when he was announced, everybody agreed that it was perfect casting. After seeing the movie, I have to concur. Robert Downey Jr. was beyond the perfect Tony Stark/Iron Man. He brought so much of that playboy crossed with undying genius to the role that you instantly bought him as Tony Stark if you’re familiar with the comic, and he brought so much raw boyish charm and charisma to the role that you bought into him as a character even if you knew nothing about the comic book or what Tony Stark is supposed to be like. If this wasn’t a comic book movie, I’d dare say some people would be talking Oscar nomination for him… no, I’m not kidding and I’d happily debate anyone about that point.

The visual effects were masterful! Everything looked so convincing and so real. We shouldn’t be surprised by that… after all it’s the same visual effects company who did the stuff on Transformers last summer and is going The Incredible Hulk in a few weeks as well. The wizards at ILM did such a good job you can never quite tell when you’re looking at a costume and when you’re looking at CGI. Never once in the movie did a poor effects shot pull me out of the movie (that’s the ultimate compliment you can give a VFX supervisor).

Go figure… it was a good STORY! Some people are going to hate that I say this… but it’s the truth. There is less “action” in Iron man than there was in the first Hulk film. No really… it’s true. But here’s the thing… because the story had such a good pace to it and was characters and backstory so well set up… and it was just a good story, the lack of action never becomes an issue. Don’t get me wrong… there is some great action in this flick… just not as much as you might expect… but the quality of the story and the pace at which it’s told more than compensate for that to the point that it never really becomes an issue.

The film does a wonderful job at never alienating audience members who many not know ANYTHING about the Iron Man comic book, and yet at the same time throw in lots of little nods to those who do know it. That’s a fine line to walk, but they did it well which really added to the charm of the movie and allowed comic fans to feel more engaged with it.

This is not The Dark Knight. There has been a (good) trend in some comic book movies like Batman Begins to make things “DARKER”. There’s nothing wrong with that at all, and depending on the characters, that is often a very good thing. But Iron Man chooses not to go down that path and that was a very wise decision. It’s a light, fun and exciting film which is exactly how it should have been (Then again, I’d still be interested in a darker Iron Man film where Tony Stark’s alcoholism is explored)

THE BAD

As was mentioned before, the film could have stood to have a couple of more set pieces with more action. Yes the story made up for that, and it’s not like the movie was suffering for a SERIOUS lack of action… but I still feel like one or two more sequences could have made it even better without making it feel over stuffed.

There is about a 15 minute segment of the film about a half hour before the end of the movie that did start to feel like it was dragging a little bit. It wasn’t serious and never felt boring… but for that brief time it did feel like the film had lost its sense of pace… thankfully it found it again and ended with a BANG!

The only other bad thing I can say about Iron Man is that it may have set the bar so high for comic book movies this summer that it may ruin the rest of them.

OVERALL

Iron man is a fun, exciting, interesting, entertaining comic book movie that even non-comic book movie fans will enjoy. It’s funny, looks great and has some great performances. Yes it could have stood a couple of more action sequences and yes it seemed to lose its sense of pace for a little while, but these are minor complaints that didn’t effect the overall enjoyment of the film for me. While I certainly don’t think this is the best comic book movie ever made (I still say X-Men 2 has that title) the bar for all the comic book movies this summer has now been set VERY high. Frankly, I have my doubts even The Dark Knight can match it. If it does, then we are a lucky audience indeed! Overall I give Iron Man an 8.5 out of 10.

You can watch the video version of our Iron Man review below.

Speed Racer Review

Thanks for checking out our Speed Racer review. I must admit that I never understood some people’s fascination with Speed Racer when it was first announced that they were going to be making a film version. Quite frankly I was confused how anyone thought that there would be enough interest in the franchise to justify the type of massive budget they were talking about giving it. Even after they announced that Matrix helmers the Wachowski brothers were going to be at the wheel (pardon the pun), i still didn’t see how even making a Speed Racer movie was a good idea.
Off I went the other day to check it out. Was it worth the hype and massive investment? In a word, NO.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis (if you can call it that) of Speed Racer looks like this: “Hurtling down the track, careening around, over and through the competition, Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and, most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized-the legendary Rex Racer - whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. Speed is loyal to the family racing business, led by his father, Pops Racer, the designer of Speed’s thundering Mach 5. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company’s maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret-some of the biggest races are being fixed by a handful of ruthless moguls who manipulate the top drivers to boost profits. If Speed won’t drive for Royalton, Royalton will see to it that the Mach 5 never crosses another finish line. The only way for Speed to save his family’s business and the sport he loves is to beat Royalton at his own game. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie, Speed teams with his one-time rival-the mysterious Racer X - to win the race that had taken his brother’s life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible.”

THE GOOD

The visual style of the film is a two edged sword (I’ll get to the second side of that sword in the “The Bad” section of the review). As visual art, the film is breath taking to look at. The artists behind this film did nothing short of a fantastic job. The look was consistent and near perfect throughout the entire film. The amount of VFX magic it took to pull this film off is staggering.

The final race of the movie was absolutely thrilling to watch. I found myself on the edge of my seat as Speed Racer blasted around the track in the climax of the movie. For a film that advertised itself as an action / exciting type of film, it was a great way to end it.

Sadly, the good stuff ends there.

THE BAD

Dear sweet heavens the acting in this film was horrible. Yes yes yes, I understand that the film wasn’t supposed to be Shakespearian in nature and was supposed to be acted in a certain, lighthearted, half tongue in cheek way… but even on that level it failed. It’s not an easy job to act without an environment, to be in front of nothing but some set pieces and a green screen (even the decent actors in the Star Wars sequels ended up struggling with that), but that doesn’t change the fact that it came off terrible.

I mentioned above that the visual style of the film was a two edged sword. On the one hand it was done perfectly, HOWEVER… the choice of style they chose to use was the wrong choice in my opinion. The entire time I felt like I was watching a video game cut scene instead of a movie. And please don’t say “but that’s what they were TRYING to do”. Yes, I understand that’s what they were trying to do… my point is that they were trying the wrong thing because it didn’t work. At least not for me.

The story of the film was so wafer thin that wasn’t any refuge to be found in it. **SPOILER** If you didn’t know that Racer X was actually Speed Racer’s supposedly dead brother almost immediately, then you’ve never watch a movie before **END OF SPOILER** The characters are all completely 1 dimensional (either totally 100% pure as snow or 100% pure evil) with nothing driving the story at any point.

The humor in the film was terrible. Not once did it ever make me even momentarily grin in amusement. It all fell flat. And dear heavens don’t get me started on the monkey.

OVERALL

Speed Racer is a film that got a lot of people very hopeful, but ultimately ends up running on completely flat tires. Wrong choice for visual style, poor acting from an otherwise impressive cast, weak story, poor humor and a lack of thrills up until the final race of the movie all leaves you wishing you went to see Iron Man again instead of wasting your money on this one. Overall I give Speed Racer a 3.5 out of 10

The Chronicles Of Narnia: Prince Caspian Review

There is a heavy responsibility you accept when trying to adapt a beloved series of novels to the big screen. You bring along a heavy set of expectations from pre-existing fans to not only produce an excellent movie, but also one that remains true (at least in spirit) to the original novel. This is insanely difficult considering the average novel can be anywhere from 300-700 pages… and the average screenplay is anywhere from 90-120 pages. Adapting novels is no small feat.

Some, like Lord of the Rings, go far beyond what anyone could have hoped for. Some disapoint, like The Da Vinci Code. Then you have some that just truly do a good solid job like the Harry Potter films…. and The Chronicles of Narnia.

The first Chronicles of Narnia film was a very pleasant surprise to me. I could never fathom how they were going to capture that book on the screen in a practical and entertaining way. Yet they did it beautifully. No, it wasn’t on Lord of the Rings scale, but it was excellent nonetheless. Could that same feat be accomplished with Prince Caspian? Yes, I believe they did.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The basic synopsis of The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian looks something like this: “One year after the incredible events of “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” the Kings and Queens of Narnia find themselves back in that faraway wondrous realm, only to discover that more than 1300 years have passed in Narnian time. During their absence, the Golden Age of Narnia has become extinct, Narnia has been conquered by the Telmarines and is now under the control of the evil King Miraz, who rules the land without mercy.
The four children will soon meet an intriguing new character: Narnia’s rightful heir to the throne, the young Prince Caspian, who has been forced into hiding as his uncle Miraz plots to kill him in order to place his own newborn son on the throne. With the help of the kindly dwarf, a courageous talking mouse named Reepicheep, a badger named Trufflehunter and a Black Dwarf, Nikabrik, the Narnians, led by the mighty knights Peter and Caspian, embark on a remarkable journey to find Aslan, rescue Narnia from Miraz’s tyrannical hold, and restore magic and glory to the land.”

THE GOOD

The action / adventure quota went WAY up for Prince Caspian. One of the criticisms the first Chronicles of Narnia film had against it was that it felt a little lacking in the action / adventure department (the ending battle not withstanding). Seems that the producers of the film were paying close attention. In Prince Caspian, the battles are more numerous, much grander in scale, the effects much better employed. The was also an increased sense of maturity to the action. The four main character from the first film aren’t just cute kids caught up in a battle… they are indeed warrior. The action was so much better and more mature this time around that I have to really question the rating the film received. If anything this should have been a PG-13 instead of a PG. I lost count of how many people were killed and cut down y swords and arrows… it’s pretty violent.

One of the mistakes some franchises make is that they continue on with their characters as if they didn’t learn anything or haven’t grown at all from their experiences in the previous installment. Not so with Prince Caspian. The four brothers and sisters are no longer just the wide eyed children from The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe…. they are true kings and queens. Peter is the greatest warrior in Narnia as High King. Edmond isn’t the annoying little snot he was in the first film. They have grown, matured… after all they are technically in their 30’s (they spent half a lifetime in Narnia before returning to the real world and their former ages.

The supporting cast of characters this time around are a little more engaging than the last. The dwarves (two in particular) had some very nice character development and personalities. The mice where hilarious and quite fun to watch. Seeing all the creatures we saw in the first film again was also quite a nice touch.

Prince Caspian does an excellent job of alluding to the first film… showing the lessons learned, the events that occurred without going overboard with silly flashback sequences, repeating verbatim lines or stories from the original. There is an excellent scene (not really a spoiler since this is in one of the trailers) with the White Queen back again which was one of my favorite of the entire movie.

THE BAD

In as much as there was more action and adventure in this film than the last… the price of that was a loss of some of the sense of awe and wonder… the sense of magic. With the first Narnia film, I found myself spellbound by the world they were in, feeling like a little kid sitting around a campfire as a skilled storyteller told the tale. There was still some sense of that in Prince Caspian for certain, but not nearly as much as in the first film.

The beginning of the film is a bit slow and took a little while for it to find its pace. Once it did it was wonderful… but it did take a good 20 minutes to do so.

There is a terrible lack of Aslan (The Lion) in the film. Yes I understand the need to maintain the basic arch of the books… but I (and I think most people) was really looking forward to seeing Aslan, the great cat do battle. Seeing him ferociously kicking ass and taking names. Hell, even just seeing him roar sends chills up my spine. Sadly however, Aslan doesn’t appear until well into the third act of the film, and even once he’s there, he doesn’t actually do much at all. There are other things that make up for this… but it was still a disappointment for me.

The White Queen in the first film was a fantastic villain. How fricking cool was it seeing her ride into combat on that chariot pulled by two polar bears and then wielding the two swords like a freaking hot ass ninja?!?! Unfortunately, the villain in Prince Caspian isn’t nearly as interesting or fun antagonist as the White Queen

OVERALL

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian ends up being a very fun and often exciting follow up to The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The characters have a wonderful sense of continuation to them, the battles are bigger, the effects better which all ends up being quite a fun ride. The film could have had “classic” status if it weren’t for the lack of a compelling villain, a woeful lack of Aslan and a substantial loss of that sense of awe and wonder delivered by the first film. Still a very enjoyable movie and one I’m happy to recommend. Overall I give The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian a solid 7.5 out of 10

Indiana Jones 4 Review

Thanks for checking out our Indiana Jones 4 review. If you’d like, you can watch the video version of our Indiana Jones 4 review at the bottom of the post.

For years… nay… decades, film fans have been patiently awaiting another Indiana Jones film. Everything was quite until about 7 years ago when it came out that Lucas, Spielberg and Ford were indeed interested in brining the all time greatest action hero back to the silver screen… there was even talk once of Kevin Costner joining the series as Indy’s younger brother (don’t laugh… it’s actually something that I thought had some merit, but probably better that it never came to pass). As the years past, the feasibility of an aging Harrison Ford wearing the great hat again seemed to get less and less likely… to the point that some people (like myself) gave up all hope of it ever coming to pass.

Then word came out that an Indiana Jones 4 film was indeed in the works. Hope ran high. Joy once again returned to the nation and even the 65 year old Harrison Ford looked great. So does Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull live up to the great “Indiana Jones” name? Unfortunately… no.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The year is now 1957 and our intrepid hero, Indiana Jones has been kidnapped by Russian agents who need his help to find an important artifact hidden at the infamous Area 51. When the Russians get away with their prize, circumstances draw Indy and a young man (Shia LaBeouf) whose mother is being held by the same Russians into a race to uncover the mystery the Russians are trying to unravel that revolves around a strange crystal skull that legend says leads to a great city of gold. And so the adventure begins.

THE GOOD

With Harrison Ford being 65 years old, one of my biggest fears was that Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull would just ignore the age issue and go on its merry way pretending like it just the same old Indy and asking us to suspend our belief about his age. Thankfully, the movie doesn’t do this. It not only acknowledges the age issue, there are a number of points throughout the film where they actually poke a lot of fun at it as well. I know it sounds strange, but just the fact that the movie often highlights the age issue sort of makes the action sequences seem more believable.

Let me talk about the action sequences here just a little bit. There are a couple of set pieces in this movie… including a car chase through the jungle and a motor cycle / car chase around the university campus, that really are spectacular. As a matter of fact, I’d go so far as to say that I think the jungle car chase scene actually surpasses that classic scene from Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indy gets dragged behind the truck. They were exciting, thrilling and had me on the edge of my seat. Some really good stuff.

The movie does a nice job of subtly referring to a number of things from the previous movies. George Lucas, when left on his own, went way over board with this in the Star Wars prequels, so there was a little fear that they would do that, or go to the opposite extreme and not allude to the previous movies at all. I’m glad to say they found some very nice middle ground

THE BAD

Although I’m a fan of Shia LaBeouf, and despite the fact that there are a couple of pretty solid scenes with him in the movie… I’m sorry, but no matter how much I tried I just couldn’t get into his character in the movie at all. For the first 10 minutes we see him he annoys the hell out of me… and after that he’s a lot less annoying, but still kind of felt “in the way” more than anything else for the movie. In heidsight I think the film would have been much stronger had he not been in it (the character I mean)

Despite the references to the older films, and despite the fact that Harrison Ford was as charming as ever as Indiana Jones… the movie never really felt like an Indiana Jones movie to me. I watched all three of the originals again this weekend, and Crystal Skull just doesn’t fit in well with the other 3 at all in my opinion. The movie failed to capture that essence that the other films had… so although the characters were there, the lines were there and even some of the memories… the “flavor” just wasn’t there.

**POSSIBLE SPOILER** As many of you have guessed from the trailers and some of the early rumors, there is an Alien plot in the movie that never worked for me at all. As a matter of fact it made the whole movie feel like it belonged to another franchise all together. It was a bad idea in my opinion. **END OF SPOILERS**

OVERALL

I liked this movie. As a matter of fact, if this film had been called by another name, and the lead character was named “Edward Cummings” or something like that instead of Indiana Jones, I probably would have walked out of the theaters saying “You know what, that was a pretty damn good (not GREAT) movie”. But as an Indiana Jones film… one we’ve been waiting 20 years for, I can’t help but feel a little let down by it. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it was a pretty entertaining movie and well worth going to see… but it never felt like an Indy film to me, and it certainly wasn’t great enough to be worthy of the “Indiana Jones” name. So a good movie, that should have been better. Overall I give Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull a 7 out of 10.

You can view our Indiana Jones 4 review video version here:

Sex And The City Review

Thanks for checking out our Sex and the City review. There hasn’t been a more female gender pop cultural phenomena in my lifetime than the hit TV show “Sex and the City“. Just about every woman I’ve known the last few years own at least one season on DVD, and many of them own them all. Even women I’ve dated would talk to me at times in allegories from the show… which would always go totally over my head since I’ve never seen a single episode (then again, it’s not like I ever understood women anyway… no man has).

So off I tromp to see Sex and the City. I went with two women I know and the theater was pretty full. One of the girls turned to me about 5 minutes before the movies was supposed to start and said “I don’t see any men in here”. I looked around, and sure enough all I saw were a lot of ladies. So I yelled out “Are there any other men here!?!?!” Two men raised their hands… and yes… they were each with their wives.

A few minutes later to much fanfare and much anticipation, the movie began. Was Sex and the City any good? Would I, a MAN who has never seen a single episode be able to enjoy it? Surprisingly yes!

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Sex and the City looks something like this: “Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker), successful author and everyone’s favorite fashion icon-next-door, is back, her famously sardonic wit intact and sharper than ever, as she continues to narrate her own story about sex, love and the fashion-obsessed single woman in New York City.
Sex and the City finds Carrie, Samantha (Kim Cattrall), Charlotte (Kristin Davis) and Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) four years after the hit HBO series ended, as our favorite femmes fashionables continue to juggle jobs, friendships and relationships while they start to navigate motherhood, marriage and Manhattan real estate… some of them may even — brace yourself — brave other boroughs outside Manhattan.”

Essentially, Carrie and Mr. Big (her long time love interest on the show) decide to get married. The film then races through various themes of love, commitment, individuality, forgiveness, friendship, loss, loneliness… and just about every other human condition you can think of.

THE GOOD

The film was funny. Pure and simple it did the one thing I didn’t really expect it to be able to do: It made me laugh. A lot. I know this will sound odd, but there were a number of times I caught myself picturing Judd Apatow writing the film. No seriously… I think if Apaow had written a Sex and the City the movie… this is the movie he probably would have come up with. The humor was more “male” than I expected it to be… and a little more crude at times… I loved it. 4-5 solid laugh out loud moments… with many many more giggles. On that level, quite entertaining.

In most movies, you have characters that make their way through the story. But Sex and the City didn’t really have a story. The characters WERE the story, and in this context it really worked because of the diversity in the 4 main characters and their legitimate charm and likeability (aside from the Miranda character)… but most importantly because of the long tested chemistry between them all. The chemistry of that on screen friendship was palpable and carried the movie.

Although sometimes a bit forced, I found the emotional and touching scenes worked. Each of the main characters go through significant challenges emotionally in the movie (which is a weakness… but I’ll get to that in a bit) and at times it is communicated quite well.

THE BAD

At just a hair under 2 hours and 20 minutes, Sex and the City is TOO LONG. The movie had a wonderful pace to it right up to about the 90 minute mark, and it felt like the movie was totally ready at that point to head into a 10-15 minute wrap up. It would have been perfect. But instead, the movie dragged on for over another half hour before heading into that wrap up. It was at that point that the movie felt stretched out and unnecessary. A part of the reason the film was too long was….

There was simply too much going on. For some reason the producers felt the need to give each and every one of the 4 main characters a significant story line sub-plot instead of one central story or without tying them together. 4 full stories takes screen time, each one interrupting the other and causing far to many themes to be brought into it. It’s not that any of the stories weren’t good, nor that any of the themes introduced weren’t worthy ones to be explored… but in food terms, if you’re making a soup, it doesn’t matter if you use 100 good ingredients, if you use all 100 the soup becomes a bit of a mess. You’re unable to appreciate the flavors of each one because it all becomes lost in the jumble of competing flavors. Sex and the City had too many ingredients going at the same time, and as such it hindered our ability to savor or appreciate any single one of them.

Some of the “life lessons” in the movie I found to be total nonsense. But really that isn’t important. The movie is about the characters and what they think… not about what I agree with. If their life lessons were consistent with the characters from the show, that’s what’s important I guess.

OVERALL

Surprisingly… nay… SHOCKINGLY I, a male who had never seen an episode of the show before, ended up enjoying the Sex and the City movie and found myself having been entertained by the end. Very funny, some great crude yet smart humor and charming characters with a great chemistry are all strong enough to overcome an unnecessarily over stuffed script with too many sub plots and themes and an extra 30-40 minutes of unneeded run time. Not a “great” movie when all is said and done, but certainly a movie worth watching. Overall I give Sex and the City a 6.5 out of 10

Kung Fu Panda Review

Thanks for checking out our Kung Fu Panda review. I still remember way back in 2005 when I first heard about Kung Fu Panda I thought it was a pathetic idea. My thoughts had to do with 2 things… the concept and using Jack Black. Both I thought were terrible ideas that seemed to me to lend themselves to yet another cookie cutter, annoying, cheap and witless animated film (non-pixar) that would just rely on fart jokes, burp jokes, fart jokes and basically any simple little thing it takes to amuse 10 year old kids (which is just about anything) without bother to put any quality story telling or themes or idea into it. Just have Jack Black talk in outrageous tones, flash some pretty colors and have Po (that’s the name of the Panda) fart.

Yes, I thought I could already see the entire movie playing itself out in my head just from hearing the concept alone. So off I went to see Kung Fu Panda the other day. Was I correct in my first impressions? Actually… no I wasn’t. It’s actually not a bad film at all.

THE GENERAL IDEA

The synopsis for Kung Fu Panda looks something like this: “A clumsy panda bear becomes an unlikely kung fu hero when a treacherous enemy spreads chaos throughout the countryside in this animated martial arts adventure featuring the voices of Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, and Jackie Chan. On the surface, Po (voice of Black) may look like just another portly panda bear, but beneath his fur he bears the mark of the chosen one. By day, Po works faithfully in his family’s noodle shop, but by night he dreams of becoming a true master of the martial arts. Now an ancient prophecy has come to pass, and Po realizes that he is the only one who can save his people from certain destruction. With time running short and malevolent snow leopard Tai Lung (Ian McShane ) closing in, Furious Five legends Tigress (Jolie), Crane (David Cross ), Mantis (Seth Rogen), Viper (Lucy Liu), Monkey (Chan), and their wise sensei, Master Shifu (Hoffman), all draw on their vast knowledge of fighting skills in order to transform a lumbering panda bear into a lethal fighting machine. Now, if the noble Po can master the martial arts and somehow transform his greatest weaknesses into his greatest strengths, he will fulfill his destiny as the hero who saved his people during their darkest hour.”

THE GOOD

“The most important element” in any film will vary according to its genre. For a film like Kung Fu Panda clearly the most important element it needed to pull off was comedy. If a film like this one doesn’t make you laugh… then there isn’t much left to fall back on. Thankfully the movie succeeds quite well on this level. I can’t recall any more than 1 hard belly laugh (usually a decent comedy needs much more than that), but it felt like it at least always had me smiling or giggling through the run time. Almost none of the joke were home runs… but then did all work. The end result was I found myself entertained almost all the way through.

Coming up with a good villain in a kids film is no easy task. The character has to be menacing, but at the same time you can’t give kids nightmarish visions and make them crap themselves. I mean come on… it’s Kung Fu Panda… you can’t exactly have Violator (from the Spawn comics) showing up can causing kids across the nation to spontaneously crap themselves in their theater seats… then requiring therapy for the next 3 years to make the nightmares go away! It is a fine and delicate balance… and the villain in Kung Fu Panda, Tai Lung, was PERFECT. He was certainly menacing… but at the same time easy enough for the kids to handle without needing pampers. I think the presence of such a villain really helped the film work.

Doing good action in an animated film is also no easy task. I mean, it’s easy enough to DO… just not so easy to do WELL. However, Kung Fu Panda and the folks at Dreamworks really did pull of some BEAUTIFUL animation with complex yet extremely smooth kung fu fighting that was a treat to watch. It was also a lot of fun seeing how each character had a totally different fighting style in keeping with which animal they were. I mean come on… how on earth do you animate a snake doing Kung Fu and have it look cool? Well… they found a way!

THE BAD

There isn’t a lot to complain about in this movie, but I will raise a couple of issues. First of all, some of the voice casting felt completely wrong. I worship the ground Dustin Hoffman walks on… but him as the voice of the sage Chinese Kung Fu master that trains the furious 5 and Po??? It just didn’t fit. Seth Rogen as one of the furious 5? I hope I’m not just being picky… but whenever these guys spoke (especially Rogen) it just kinda pulled me out of the movie. It was just really conspicuous.

I would have liked to have seen more about the furious 5 characters (the tiger, crane, monkey, viper and the mantis. I think Jackie Chan had like 2 lines… but I mean more in the sense of seeing even just a 2 minute segment of where they each came from and how they ended up at the temple in the first place. Not a major complaint… but it did keep popping into my head as I was watching it.

OVERALL

Contrary to my initial impressions, Kung Fu Panda ends up being a funny (not outright hilarious), exciting, well animated and beautiful to look at movie that both kids and yes, even adults will enjoy. Some poor voice casting and a few character left without being fleshed out much didn’t become major distractions to enjoying the movie. Could have taken or left Jack Black as the lead voice… but he didn’t detract from the film in anyway. It’s no Pixar film… but very good nonetheless. Overall I give Kung Fu Panda a 7.5 out of 10.

The Incredible Hulk Review

Thanks for checking out our review of The Incredible Hulk! ***SPOILER CITY AHEAD!!!! DON’ T READ IF YOU WANT TO BE SURPRISED!***

The General Idea

Plot outline from IMDB: Depicting the events after the Gamma Bomb. ‘The Incredible Hulk’ tells the story of Dr Bruce Banner, who seeks a cure to his unique condition, which causes him to turn into a giant green monster under emotional stress. Whilst on the run from military which seeks his capture, Banner comes close to a cure. But all is lost when a new creature emerges; The Abomination.

The Good

Ed Norton was great as Bruce Banner. He was always muted, calm and in control. He was Vulcan in his discipline and really sold the idea of how much work it would take to be in control of your emotions 24/7. His portrayal of Banner wrestling with himself added struggle and depth to the character and a surprising amount of tension to the film.

This film has 3 main battle sequences and I liked them all for different reasons. My favorite was probably the courtyard battle, because we can clearly se what is going on and the use of sonic cannons was outstanding. The first battle in a bottling plant had the best “throwing shit” segment of the film and the third act allowed us to see the Hulk duke it out against a worthy adversary. The Hulk pounded the ground, threw tons of stuff and often used massive foreign objects as makeshift blunt weapons. I was pleased with the choreography of the violence and the myriad of ways in which they delivered it.

For much of the story we are following Banner as he runs from authorities. For much of the show the film had the feel of a chase movie, and that suited me just fine. It was cool to see Banner in different situations using ingenuity to not only outsmart those chasing him, but the beast within.

The Bad

I really didn’ t care for much of the camera work in this film. I will be honest, some scenes it just down right bothered me. Breakneck editing and shaky cam made for some very indiscernible moments. I like to see the environment and soak in the images, that is the point with cinema after all isn’t it? I understand that quick editing will give a sense of action and mayhem, but I think a long shot where you see a car fly across the screen into someone’s face speaks for itself.

There was a sub plot in the film where Bruce solicits help for a cure, and I found it to be incredibly lame. I can understand that he may be looking for a cure himself, but I never bought that he would get assistance from anyone else (let alone send blood in the mail). When Bruce meets with the scientist that has been helping him over the internet (Mr. Blue), they try to administer a cure which may or may not work….. and 5 minutes later in the film - they hope it doesn’t work. I was left wondering - what’s the point? If this entire sub plot had been stricken from the story, it would have been much better for it.

This film would have gotten at least a 7 from me if it didn’t let me down so much at the films climax. Although it wasn’t my favorite fight scene of the film - the last battle with Abomination was building to an amazing crescendo and had everyone in the theatre abuzz with excitement. At the moment where Hulk is about to unleash true justice upon Abomination - Betty says “don’t” and he doesn’t. The whole fucking scene went down like the Hindenburg and was totally spoiled. For the last action scene in The Incredible Hulk - that is flat out unacceptable. Hulk is violence, and you need to give us the best.

Overall

Criticisms aside, I enjoyed the Hulk and recommend that you see it. The pieces were there to make this film great, but a more liberal use of the editing knife and a superior climax would have made this a much better film. I thought the film was good, not great, and out of 10 give it a 6.5 (but I want to give it a 6.8).