Runtime:132 Minutes MPAA Rating: R Stars:Ethan Hawke, Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Wesley Snipes Plot: Three cops with different career paths and goals collide at the end...who will survive? Review: Overall a pretty good movie. It held my interest throughout. Ethan Hawke plays a desperate dad who needs money to move his family, including his wife who is pregnant with twins, out of the mold infested house they live in. Richard Gere plays a cop who is retiring, and has nothing in his life to keep him going. Don Cheadle is an undercover cop who is torn between his job and loyalty to a drug kingpin (Snipes) who once saved his life.
This movie had great drama and a lot of killing. There is one kill in particular that just kind of freaked me out, and that is when Gere's character puts a zip tie over a man's throat and pulls it tight...just kind of sick.
Plot: Michael Myers has come back again for his sister.
Review: This movie could have been really good. Unfortunately, it wasn't. There were some things that I really liked about this movie. Michael Myers unrelenting brutality was just what it should have been. The death scenes were shot very well. The dream sequence at the beginning was great.
What I did not like was Michael Myers mom popping up all the time in this movie, kind of guiding Michael to do things. It was just such a waste of time to have her there all the time with her white freakin horse. To me, it just seemed like this angle was just a way for Rob Zombie to get his wife into the movie. Another thing I didn't like is that Dr. Loomis was turned into this guy who just became a total prick out to make money off of his former patient. At least by the end of the movie, he redeems himself.
I think that Scout Taylor-Compton did a great job again as Laurie Strode. I think her reaction to finding out who she really is was done brilliantly. I think anyone who would find themselves in that situation would react similarly. Not that anyone would ever find themselves in that situation.
I really defended Zombie when people trashed the first Halloween remake. I thought the first one was exceptional. I think I may have had some unrealistic expectations for this one, though. And this movie just didn't deliver on it. The bad parts of the movie far outweighed the good parts and that is just a shame.
Scott has never seen this movie, but one day I shall make him watch it :) Drop Dead Fred
CAST: Phoebe Gates as Elizabeth “Lizzie” Cronin Rik Mayall as Drop Dead Fred Marsha Mason as Polly Cronin Tim Matheson as Charles (Lizzie’s husband)
YEAR RELEASED: 1991
RUN TIME: 103 minutes
IMDB SUMMARY: A young woman who's attempting to find her place in the world battles with her controlling mother and a womanizing husband finds comfort and confusion with the appearance of her childhood friend. It is a zappy movie that emphasizes self-actualization.
MY REVIEW: Lizzie goes back to her mom’s after she found out that her husband is cheating on her. She is going through the things in her old room from when she was a child and stumbles upon the jack in box that has been heavily duct taped closed! She thinks about it for awhile and when the wind up thing starts turning she tares through the tape and out flies….DROP DEAD FRED…He is discussed that she is a grown up when she was younger they promised to never grow up and get married, which Lizzie has done. He finds that downstairs Lizzies moms house she has had the carpet cleaned. Fred heads outside and gets dog poo on his shoes and with his little song “dog poo here, dog poo there, all along the sides, all up there’ he destroys he newly cleaned floor. Her mom freaks out in the morning. He sees the mom and calls her mega beast! What he had called her for years when they were younger. Drop Dead Fred is back to his ways. Lizzie’s mom is trying her hardest to get Lizzie and Charles back together but Lizzie’s friend Janie doesn’t think she should. But even with her friend Janie’s support, Lizzie can’t stop loving her husband and can’t stand not being with him. Lizzie finally gets back with her husband and Drop Dead Fred of course follows along. Lizzie is trying to get rid of Drop Dead Fred but he is following her everywhere. She goes to her friend’s yacht and wakes up in the morning to see that her hair is chopped off on one side and finds out the Fred is on the boat. Fred is messing with the gauges and ends up sinking the boat. We will skip ahead…. Lizzies husband wants her to take these pills that get rid of imaginary friend, Drop Dead Fred. She is about to take the last pill but she stops and thinks for a little bit….She ends of taking the last one and getting rid of her husband. She later sees her friends child doing the same things her and Fred did when they were younger, and instantly knows that Fred is with her now…
I LOVE IT!!! It sounds pretty dumb, and is kind of dumb but it’s still a good movie and I recommend it to anyone!
Runtime: 96 minutes MPAA Rating: R Stars: Duane Martin, Leon, Tupac Shakur, Marlon Wayans
Plot: High School basketball star Kyle Watson is looking to get into Georgetown, but lots of things stand in his way, like his ghetto upbringing and a drug dealer.
Review: I have always liked this movie, and recently got the chance to view it again. I think this movie is very raw and very well made at the same time. I have not really been much of a fan of basketball movies, but this is one that grips me. It has a very well told story. You really get a sense of what Kyle (Martin) goes through on his journey to get to college. His life is a struggle, living with his mom in the hood. His best friend, Bugaloo (Wayans) just got out of jail and wants Kyle to run with a prominent drug dealer, Birdie (Tupac).
The final scene of the movie, at the basketball tournament shootout is a well done scene. Kyle finds out that he did get into Georgetown, and has decided to quit Birdie's team and rejoin his coach's team. But Birdie tells him to throw the game or he will tell Georgetown about the gifts that he gave Kyle. In the end, Kyle doesn't throw the game and his team wins.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who likes a nice story. Not the best movie in the world, but a very good one.
With the news today that Avatar has passed The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King to become the second highest grossing movie of all time with $1.1 billion, the question remains: Can it surpass Titanic and become the highest grossing film worldwide of all time?
Well, if it keeps it current pace, it will definitely do that. Just think that in only 21 days, 3 measly weeks, Avatar has made $1.1 billion dollars. That is just an incredible pace. So far, it seems that my wife and I are the only people not to have seen this movie. And we won't be seeing it either.
No way can this movie keep its current pace, because eventually sales will die off. I am not sure if Avatar will have the legs of Titanic which was in theaters for over 6 months. Titanic benefited from a ton of repeat business, and I am sure Avatar is doing the same. I have heard that the visual effects of the movie are amazing, and I would at least like to see that part. I am just not one of those people that likes to sit for 3 hours and watch a movie.
I will give James Cameron his due though. He possibly is the greatest director of all time... He now owns the two highest grossing movies of all time...and I have not seen either one of them. I do, however, love some of his other movies, like The Terminator, Terminator 2, True Lies. He doesn't make many movies, but when he does make one, it doesn't seem to miss.
I guess a sequel is already in the works for Avatar...I guess I won't see that one either.
Runtime: 82 minutes MPAA Rating: R Stars: Bobby Campo, Shantel VanSanten, Nick Zano, Haley Webb, Mykelti Williamson
Plot: After seeing a vision of a crash at a car race, Nick and his friends must out run death and survive the ensuing carnage.
Review: Of all the Final Destination movies, this one is by far the worst. I have always looked forward to seeing the elaborate death scene that kicks off the movie in these Final Destination films. I was really looking forward to this one as well, but it definitely did not deliver. Not even in a small way. The effects were totally lame and looked very fake. That pretty much sums up how I feel about this movie.
I couldn't have cared less who lived or died. Some of the death scenes that followed the car crash were pretty cool and imaginitive, but really not executed well. There was some humor when George (Williamson) explains that he wants to die and had been trying to kill himself all day, but couldn't get the job done.
Overall, this movie stunk worse than a rotten egg fart. One of the worst horror movies I have seen...and I just got done watching the remake of Prom Night recently.
Runtime: 90 minutes MPAA Rating: R Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Vernon Wells, Rae Dawn Chong, Dan Hedaya, Alyssa Milano
Plot: After the kidnapping of his daughter, Col. John Matrix must assassinate a politician in order to get her back. But Matrix has other ideas on how to get his daughter back, and the people responsible will pay.
Review: OK, so this movie doesn't have great acting. Heck, it doesn't even have good acting. Sure, the bad guy looks like Freddie Mercury in chainmail and couldn't scare a fly. Sure, there are so many camera mistakes that can be spotted by the biggest amateur film watcher. Even the plot is paper thin. You would think this would all add up to a terrible movie, and normally you would be right. But in the case of Commando, you would be dead wrong. As dead as one of Bennett's pissant soldiers. As dead as Sully after being dropped off the cliff.
This movie is so bad, it is great. It is literally my favorite movie ever made. It is a pure guilty pleasure and there is nothing wrong with that. After all, why do we watch movies? For entertainment, right? Well, this movie entertained me from the first moment until "We Fight For Love" starts playing and the credits roll.
I have seen this movie so many times, I can recite the script from memory. There is a huge cult following for this movie, and I am happy to say I am part of that following. For those out there that still haven't seen this movie, and I can't believe there are many of them, I highly recommend you wake the heck up and give this movie a chance.
Runtime: 120 minutes MPAA Rating: R Stars: Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox, David Arquette, Jamie Kennedy, Laurie Metcalf, Timothy Olyphant, Liev Schreiber, Jerry O'Connell
Plot: With the movie of the Woodsboro Murders about to open, a killer is again on the loose and after Sidney Prescott at the campus of her college.
Review: I really like this sequel. Although not as good as the first Scream, it is right behind it in terms of overall movie quality. While Scream totally revamped the Slasher Horror genre, Scream 2 picks up right where its predecessor left off. It was pretty original, suspenseful and funny. Throughout the whole movie, you don't really get a sense of who the killer is until he is revealed.
For a horror movie, Scream 2 is filled with terrific performances. Neve Campbell is great as Sidney Prescott, and she totally owns that role. For once, there is a lead woman in a horror movie that I didn't want to see die. I think Timothy Olyphant did a great job as Mickey, the deranged film student. Laurie Metcalf does a great job as well. First as the annoying reporter, and then as the film reveals, she is Billy Loomis' (killer from Scream) mother. I have always thought Laurie was a great character actor.
The death scenes in this movie are great. Most are pretty original and you get a sense of how smart the killer(s) are. The ending was pretty standard, as far as horror movies go. Overall though, I loved Scream 2.
Plot:A killer escapes from custody and returns to terrorize the girl he is obsessed with on her Prom Night.
Review:A pretty run of the mill horror/thriller. Nothing really good going on in this movie. I am not exactly sure why they call this a remake, because it really isn't anything like the original Prom Night starring Jamie Lee Curtis. So for those who think it is a close remake would be disappointed.
Brittany Snow is ok as Donna, a girl who has had a past encounter with a sadistic killer named Richard Fenton. Richard is obsessed with Donna and previously murdered her parents and brother. Now he has escaped from custody and tries to get to Donna. At her prom, he kills several people, including her friends, and a couple of hotel workers. Eventually there is a showdown at Donna's house where Richard is finally stopped.
The movie was very predictable and didn't provide anything new. Still, if you have an hour and a half to waste, there are worse things you could waste it on. I wouldn't really recommend this movie though.
Runtime: 111 minutes MPAA Rating: R Stars: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride, Amber Heard, Gary Cole, Craig Robinson, Kevin Corrigan, Rosie Perez
Plot: After witnessing a murder, Dale goes on the run with his drug dealer, Saul, in hopes of clearing his name and taking down the man responsible.
Review: I absolutely love this movie. It is funny from beginning to end. This movie isn't one that takes itself too seriously. In fact, it doesn't take anything seriously. That is the whole point. This isn't a movie in which you must be a stoner to appreciate. It is just good, old-fashioned funny situations, and all kinds of mayhem.
Seth Rogen as Dale does a great job as a mid-twenties stoner who is dating a high school girl. His job as a process server is what leads to him witnessing Ted Jones (Cole) and Carol (Perez) murdering a member of a rival drug dealer. Having nowhere to go, Dale goes back to Saul's (Franco) apartment. Saul is Dale's pot dealer, and just sold him a new kind of pot called Pineapple Express. Dale happened to drop some of this weed at the murder scene and since Saul is the only one who sells this kind of weed and his dealer got it through Ted Jones, Dale and Saul go on the run.
A lot of funny stuff happens after that, such as a scene in the woods where Dale and Saul think they are being chased, a fight at Saul's dealers (McBride in his breakout role) house, a car chase, a dinner at the house of Dale's girlfriend, and finally the big action scene at the end at Ted Jones underground warehouse.
The two best parts of this movie are James Franco as the pot dealer, Saul, and Danny McBride as Red, the guy who Saul gets his supply from. Originally it was supposed to be Franco in the role of Dale and Rogen as Saul, but they switched because Franco was better at being Saul. They really made the right choice there. I don't think I would have liked this movie nearly enough if the roles had been switched. Red is a very funny character. He bakes cakes for his dead cat, and is waiting for his wife to get out of prison. Meanwhile, he fluctuates between being loyal to his boss, Ted, and loyal to his friend, Saul. He makes the right choice in the end.
This movie is one of those movies that you will find yourself quoting over and over again.
Rating: 10/10, recommend to everyone who likes funny movies
Runtime: 107 minutes MPAA Rating: R Stars: Christian Bale, Taye Diggs, Sean Bean, Angus Macfadyen, William Fichtner
Plot: Set in the future, after World War 3, all feelings have been outlawed, and one of the agents who enforce the law starts feeling and becomes the leader of the resistance.
Review: What a great movie. The concept of the movie is a little weird, but really, it is just the catalyst to a great action movie. The action scenes are some of the best I have seen in a while. Christian Bale does a great job, as usual, in his role as Preston, a Grammaton Cleric, who is the enforcer of the law that all feelings be eradicated. All of society is controlled with a drug called Prozium, and Preston accidentally breaks his vial one morning and starts feeling emotion. It isn't long until he rises to become the leader of the resistance, and mayhem pretty much ensues from there.
The story is kinda touching and in a different movie, it would be the kind of story that may well win a major award. But this movie is really a hardcore action movie. The way Preston blows through hundreds of people with his Matrix like moves, is pretty impressive. Now, this movie and some of its action may well have been a ripoff of sorts of the Matrix, but it is different enough to stand on its own.
I can't believe that I had never seen this movie before. It came out in 2002, and I must have overlooked it. Oh well, I have seen it now, and I liked it a lot.
Rating: 8/10, highly recommend to people who like action and don't get too bored with an oddball story.
I know that this blog is supposed to be about movie reviews, but my wife and I are watching the movie Speak on Lifetime (yes, I will watch Lifetime movies with my wife...hey, I love her), and this movie sparked a topic that I thought would be good to write about. So here it goes.
Why in the hell is this world so fascinated with Kristen Stewart? She is not a good actress. She is not a good looking chick (far from it). Just the sight of her makes me want to vomit all over the place. Oooooooohhhhhh. I know why America loves her now. It is because she is in that stupid movie, Twilight, and little high school girls and emo punks just love that damn movie. Just the fact that this dude has become a huge star shows how far this country has fallen. I know I am not the only one who feels this way.
How can anyone sit and watch a movie that has this hermie in it and believe that she could be the love interest in the movie? I guess I get it with Twilight. She looks like a dude, and the dude looks like a chick, so it fits. But, in Adventureland, she has two guys after her! It is just so unbelievable that it makes it very hard to watch.
She is now such a big star, that when the movie, Panic Room, in which she plays Jodie Foster's daughter, is advertised on TV, it is now advertised as "starring Twilight's Kristen Stewart" instead of the Academy Award winning Jodie Foster. Speaking of Panic Room, which I think is a great movie despite Kristen Stewart being a totally annoying little wench; I honestly thought that Kristen Stewart was a boy. This was the first movie I had ever seen with he/she in it, and it took me most of the movie to figure out that Jodie Foster's character had a daughter and not a son.
I guess if we can learn anything from Kristen Stewart becoming a big star is that I guess Hollywood isn't all about looks after all. In fact, it seems that these days in order to make it in Hollywood you have to either: a) starve yourself to death (Brittany Murphy), be totally out of your mind (Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears), get plastic surgery until you look like a wax version of yourself, or look/act like a chick if you're a dude and vice versa.
I guess I would never make it in Hollywood. But, that has less to do with what I look like and more to do with the fact that I have no talent to speak of. Well, maybe it has just as much to do with what I look like.
Runtime:93 minutes MPAA Rating:R Stars:Scott Mechlowicz, Jacob Pitts, Michelle Trachtenberg
Plot:After getting dumped by his girlfriend, Scott embarks on a trip to Europe to find his penpal, Mieke.
Review:Very funny, adventurous movie. Not a whole lot to say about this movie except that I laughed a lot. Matt Damon's cameo at the beginning is probably the best part of the movie. It is just an unexpected character for him to play and he still played it well. Their trek across Europe is filled with hijinks and shenanigans.
Runtime:86 minutes MPAA Rating:R Stars: Katie Featherstone, Micah Stone
Plot: Katie and Micah are an ordinary couple who are being haunted by a demonic prescence.
Review: For having a really small budget, Paranormal Activity was very well done. I didn't find this movie to be as scary as most people. It did have its moments where it was pretty freaky, but overall, it wasn't that scary. My problem with this movie stems from the main characters, Katie and Micah. I just didn't sympathize with them. Katie was such a whiny, crying chick and Micah was pretty much just a jerk to her the whole time. In the end, I found myself wanting the demon to kill them. I think by now, everyone knows how this movie ends. If you don't want the end spoiled, don't read further.
There were three ending shot for Paranormal Activity, and I have seen all three. I will discuss all three endings in the reverse order of how I liked them.
One ending that didn't make the theatrical release, but was included as the alternate ending on the DVD ends with Micah getting woke up by Katie's screams for him. He rushes downstairs and you can assume that he is killed by Katie. Katie then walks up the stairs, into the bedroom and closes the door. She then walks over to the camera and puts a knife to her throat and slashes it. She then falls lifeless to the floor. Out of the three endings, this one is the one that sounds like it would be the coolest, but it just kind of falls flat on the execution. Katie slashing her throat was just kind of blah.
The second ending that didn't make the theatrical release, and wasn't included on the DVD, I had to watch on the internet. It starts again with Micah running downstairs to Katie's screams and him being killed. Then Katie walks up the stairs and sits down by the bed. You see the time on the video camera race by as she just sits there rocking back and forth. The next day you hear some knocks on the door, and one of Katie's friends opens the door and screams when she sees Micah dead downstairs. She runs out of the house and you assume calls the police. The police come to the house a little while later and come in the house. They come up the stairs and find Katie. When Katie makes a move toward the cop, they shoot her dead. I liked this one the second most, just because it is well executed and is pretty original.
The ending I liked best was the one in the theatrical release. It ends with Micah being killed and then thrown into the camera. Then Katie crawls over his body and looks into the camera and smiles. I felt this ending was the best because it was the most well executed ending. It also involved some trickier camera work and stunt work than the other two.
Overall, I would say this movie was pretty good. It was original and that originality will never be able to be duplicated. I applaud the makers of this film for standing their ground and not allowing the movie studio who bought the rights to the movie to remake it with known names and a bigger budget. This movie succeeded because of its small budget and genius internet marketing.
Rating: 6/10, would recommend to horror fans, but don't be surprised that it isn't that scary
Plot:Newlyweds Cliff (Zahn) and Cydney (Jovovich) are on their honeymoon in Hawaii. There have been some murders in Honolulu and the killers are on the loose. On their travels, they meet two couples, Nick (Olyphant) and Gina (Sanchez), and Kale (Chris Hemsworth) and Cleo (Marley Shelton). They suspect that one of the couples are the killers, but don't know which ones.
Review:I thought this movie was very well made. The scenery was beautiful. The action scenes were very well shot. The movie was highly entertaining. The movie was one of those that doesn't take itself too seriously. There is a huge twist in this movie. When I watched it in the theater I didn't see it coming. I don't know why I didn't see it coming as all the clues are there. I won't spoil it any further though. I suspect this is a movie that either you will love or hate. There is no inbetween. I happened to love it. I thought each actor played their part well, especially Jovovich and Olyphant. Jovovich is used to starring in action-type movies, and as usual does well in the action scenes here. Olyphant is the big scene stealer in this movie if you ask me. He is quickly becoming a household name in Hollywood and is getting bigger roles thrown his way finally.
I am a career college student. Not for much longer though. I will finally graduate at the end of summer 2010. I am married to the most wonderful woman in the world, Katie. We have been married for 6 years, and love each other more and more everyday. We have a dog named Oscar.
Posts
