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So I decided to check out Hellboy 2 last night and was pleasently pleased with the movie. The movie does a great job picking up where the first left off. You even get a glimpse into HB as a child. The monsters are far more creative than in the first installment and much more in quantity. The acting is on par for a movie like this so don’t expect oscars to be handed out. I love HB’s personality, part bad ass mofo and part comical geek. This is def a movie worth seeing.

Yes, like so many of you I am anxiously waiting for the new Batman movie, The Dark Knight to open. The prequel Batman Begins starring Christian Bale as Batman relaunched the series in a dark gloomy light that was needed after the comedic performances of Val Kilmer, George Clooney and Michael Keaton. You may or may not agree with me but none of them had any business portraying Batman. Heath Ledger coming on as Joker had some big shoes to fill following Jack Nicholson. Jack was awesome as the Joker in the first movie but once again I think was asked to be much too “fun and bubbling” even for a “joker” role. From the looks of the previews Health looks to have done an incredible job, its unfortunate he has passed. There is a rumor going around that Heath and Jack spoke previous to the filming of the new movie. Jack informated Heath that playing the role of Joker can make you lose your mind. I can’t say this is what pushed Heath over the edge but rather confirms that Jack truly is a unique man (and has been crazy for years have you seen his movies?). I ran into this You Tube video today of the Toyota F1 race car going heads up with the Batmobile. Not much of a race but the video gives you some close up video feed of the BM for all you fanboys out there. 

Cloverfield, Cloverfield, Cloverfield, where does one begin to talk about your suckage. (it was about as good as my 2 minute photoshop drawing which is now on sale for $10 so I can get my money back for the movie ticket) How about going to rescue a girl who is stuck to the floor of a building for hours with rebar through her heart who ends up being totally okay. Or wait, how about a monster that’s a total rip-off of about 10 other movies. I could go on… The movie starts off during a going away party for one of the guys. His brother is asked to video tape goodbye wishes by the girlfriend which he does not want to do. He ends up handing off the cam to his nitwit friend who actually ends up making this movie somewhat watchable. Then all of a sudden the building shakes, blahblahblah, they run out to the roof, blahblahblah, omg look its a big scary monster, blahblahblah, everyone runs into the streets, blahblahblah, bored yet? Then the military of course comes in and starts telling people what to do, never seen that in a movie before. Then of course the big scary monster has offspring that look like small mutant spiders, never seen that before. Then there is the brother who cant reach his ex lover and needs to send the remaining friends that are alive on a wild goose chase to find her. When you do actually get a glimpse of the monster and the people running around all you can think is “Godzirraaa!!!!” Throughout the movie the friend is video taping everything which is how the movie was shot trying to be cool I guess. In the end all the blurry scenes and jumping around from the camera being carried in someone’s hand while running makes you motion sick at best, so not cool. So let’s see where was I oh yeah and then more people start dying, the kids disobey the military which is original as well of course and let’s see oh yeah and then it just ends. Two people sitting under a bridge saying “If you get this video we are dead and we are blahblahblah” loud noise go boom, cam smashes, movie ends. Damn I want my $10 back…

I caught a sneak preview of the new movie The Assassination of Jesse James staring Brad Pitt last night. My good friend Chris told me about this movie and how good it was so I thought I should check it out. How could you go wrong combining the tales of the late Jesse James and one of today’s best action movie stars, right? This movie is how you can go wrong! I thought there would be crazy bank robberies, train hijacks (okay there was one but it was boring), blood and guts and all that business but nope. This is a tale of the last month of Jesse James’ life after all of the good stuff (what you want to see in a movie about Jesse James) has happened. This movie is actually more about the coward Robert Ford who shot and murdered Jesse James played by Casey Afleck (a far better actor than his big brother). The acting in this movie was good but the writing was horrible. If you are looking for a long drawn out drama about how Jesse James was shot and want to know a lot about the man that killed him and how he idolized him so much then this is the movie for you. Personally, I want my 2 hours back.

If you choose to check this one out, I suggest making it a rental. (damn glad I didn’t pay to see this)

Title: Rise of the Footsoldier
Release: September 2007 in UK

It’s a little after midnight and I just finished watching this flick. Kept me awake and alert the entire time which is a good sign when I start a movie late at night. Two things turned me on to this movie before pressing play, I love a good foul mouth British shoot-em-up flick and there was pretty much nobody in it I recognized. Sure, I see movies with my favorites actors but every now and then it’s good seeing one with a whole list of personal nobodies.

One thing I didn’t realize going into the movie is that it was based on a true life story. That makes it even better! Foul mouth British people cursing, screaming, beating and shooting each other and it really happened, cheers! The movie takes you through the life of Carlton Leach (no relation to Robin Leach) and his inexorable rise to becoming one of the most ruthless football terrace generals (glorified soccer oops football hooligans). Later, he became a revered gang criminal who lead his gang rampaging London and Essex through the 80’s and 90’s. As he became more powerful so did his friends and so did his status. Soon, he was being hired around town as hired muscle along with his mates which then turned into a life of drug dealing, killing and eventually lead to the death of his good friends. The movie culminated with the real news footage from the brutal slaughter of his friends that sad day in Rettendon.

I have to say I really enjoyed this movie. There were moments about half way through I thought it could have done without the amount of drugs that were introduced but later realized it was a crucial element in the story telling process. Ricci Harnett did a fantastic job portraying Carlton Leach combining a steadfast tough guy and a soft heart for loyalty. About the only face you may recognize in this movie is that of Craig Fairbass who played the role of Pat Tate a lowlife, drug dealing, beat-you-up-beacuse-im-bigger-than-you kinda guy. You may recognize him from a recent episode the The Unit or his role as Delmar in Demolition Man back in 1993 starring beside Sylvester Stallone. He was one of the hired thugs who had tried to punt Michael Rooker’s character Hal Tucker off a cliff with that ever so witty line “I was a right good strika!” The rest of the cast was equally as good and the movie had a very authentic feel to it even though I have no idea what it was like growing up there during that time. Keep in mind this is a British movie and the accents are thick so there may be a line or two you will never, ever, figure out what the hell they were saying. (think Austin Powers “I shat on a turtle”) Julian Gilbey is no Guy Ritchie but if you enjoyed Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrells or Snatch you should definitely consider adding this one to your movie collection. Oye!

Finally got around to seeing National Treasure Book of Secrets yesterday with my good friend Bo. I really enjoyed the first National Treasure movie, so much that it has found a permanent home on my Iphone when traveling. Great movie to flip on I never seem to tire of. Prior to purchasing tickets I had heard mixed reviews online. That really doesn’t mean much these days, however my friend Sean who I share much of the same movie taste with said it didn’t match up to the first. Hoping to prove him wrong Bo and I headed out popcorn in hand. The movie started strong taking you back in time to the Lincoln assassination just after the Civil War had ended. You quickly learn that the movie is about Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicholas Cage) trying to disprove a rumor that his great great grandfather Thomas Gates was not part of the plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. The same cast of characters arrives in this installment as well, Diane Kruger as Abigail Chase, Jon Voight as Patrick Gates, Justin Barta as Riley Poole, Harvey Keitel as FBI Agent Peter Sadusky and new welcomed actors Ed Harris as Mitch Wilkinson, Helen Mirren as Emily Appleton Gates and Bruce Greenwood as US President. On top of great actors this movie takes you to some amazing places such as Mount Rushmore, The Library of Congress, Statue of Liberty, White House, Buckingham Palace, Mount Vernon and more. If you have a love for history this movie as its predecessor are for you.

The writing I will agree with Sean and say it was not as good as the first. Still, Bo and I both very much enjoyed the story line and pace of the movie. Plenty of action, great character interaction, Abigail is smoking hot, and Riley’s smart ass comments steal the show once again. Something I enjoy about both National Treasure movies is the use of real American history. Sure, there are parts of the movie they hype up because it is a movie and some of the booby-traps I am sure are not realistic to the abilities of the people of the time period. Overall though you get a great sense of history and adventure throughout.  I would suggest checking it out yourself, you won’t be disappointed.

This post is dedicated to all those people that told me Rob Zombie did a piss poor job remaking Halloween. You people are wrong. I just finished watching my rented copy and have to admit I enjoyed it FAR more than I ever did the original with Jamie Lee Curtis. I really can’t spoil what the movie is about sharing some of the parts I enjoyed most so here goes. The movie begins profiling Michael Myers as a young boy growing up in a typical blue collar town. Mom is a stripper, Dad is dead but Mom has the dead beat boyfriend who is on disability taking up couch space reminding everyone of how much they are fuck-ups. His older sister is your normal teenager with a healthy sexual appetite (actually all the girls in this movie seem to want to get it on) and then there is his little baby sister… Zombie did a great job showing us how Michael became the ‘i can walk faster than you can run through the forest’ mass murderer we have all grown to love over the years of sequels. Now that I think about it I really shouldn’t tell you everything because it’s a definite must own movie for me now which means you need to go out and at least rent it. The killing scenes are top notch and not overdone, plenty of nudity for those looking for that in a horror flick, the little boy portraying MM is truly creepy and a few of Zombie’s ‘Devils Rejects’ cast members make their appearance as per usual. Get some popcorn and kill a couple hours, you won’t be disappointed.

A few of us decided to go checkout the new Will Smith movie I Am Legend last night. The movie turned out to be good, not great but definitely worth checking out. The Fresh Prince of Bel Air sure has come a long way and this movie doesn’t fail to prove that. Will’s acting is top notch and the scene with his dog (you will know which one when you go see it) could make anyones heart hurt. The movie sort of felt like I was watching Tom Hanks in Cast Away during certain parts but with crazy creepy mutated humans trying to eat you instead of a mute hand-painted volleyball filling out the rest of the cast. One of my favorite parts has to be Will’s mannequin scenes, pure comedy. If you are a Will fan or if you like movies about creatures in the night, it’s a definite must see. Cheers.