First Rambo

So this is the second down, expect a review of The Eye either tonight or tomorrow...

RAMBO

Rambo did pretty decently in the Box Office,. It had an opening weekend of $18,203,876, not phenomenal but decent enough... It made $42,754,105 here in the states and topped at $103,893,083 world wide. It's kinda weird that it made more money out of the States than in.

John Rambo, now living in Thailand, is approached by a group of missionaries looking to aide the people of Burma, devastated by the local power Than Shwe. After dropping them off, the village is soon attacked and the missionaries are taken captive. Now John Rambo and a group of Mercenaries must go in and save them.

I must make a confession that I've never actually seen a Rambo movie (more accurately a First Blood movie). Oh I've seen bits and pieces of each film but never all the way through. I never dug the Action Hero movie where a man can walk into the line of fire of fifty men and come out unscathed. It's the reason I've always been a bigger Die Hard fan, as John McClane gets thrashed in each film.

I went into this film expecting a glossy action flick, and when the credits rolled I let out a half hearted 'meh.' The film just didn't hold together for me. The plot was lame, but I expected that... The enemy soldiers were all cruel and sadistic bastards to the point of making Hitler look like an okay guy... But I do understand that there are sick deranged people who do rule over impoverished people...

Maybe the thing that really killed the film for me was that there were only three or four actual action sequences IN the movie, and this includes the explosive finale. I went into this movie EXPECTING the plot to be dull, the enemies to be worse than Nazis, but also with the expectation of a big action sequence or explosion evert five to ten minutes, but it didn't turn out that way.

I don't know, maybe seeing all the other films would have made me enjoy this more. In fact thats the only real people I can suggest this to, people who have seen all the other films, IE fans. If you're uninitiated into the ways of John Rambo you're not going to be drawn in by this one, thats for sure. Rambo releases tomorrow, thats May 27th 2008.

Flawless Victory

Okay so this is how it goes, it's a movie day. I'm gonna try my best to bang out at LEAST three movie reviews today while attempting to watch all the movies I need to before I have to bring them back. In fact, as I write this review I am watching Rambo... Though I must say it does not look like I'll be able to watch Street Racer, the Asylum Speed Racer rip off. But for NOW I bring you...

FLAWLESS

The box office for Flawless is a bit skewed since it only had a limited release in the states, meaning not all theaters played it, and theaters that did probably didn't play it for very long. Even still it took home $1,067,665 domestic, and was able to bring in $4,811,166 world wide.

The movie is a crime drama taking place in the 1960s, focusing on Mr. Gibbs (Caine) a Janitor for the London Diamond Corporation, and Laura Quinn (Moore) an executive stifled for years from a proper promotion because she is a woman. Gibbs comes to Laura with a proposition, to steal diamonds from their work. Though when Mr. Gibbs steals more than he said he would Laura finds herself in over her head.

This movie is, in a word, calm. It has no action, no tense moments that makes you hold your breath, and no ticking clock with a red and blue wire... Even the robbery itself is rather tame... What it does have is a terrific story, and a wonderful cast. Each scene is involving and interesting as it builds on the story...

This movie comes out on DVD on June 3rd and is for those who want to relax and simply enjoy a very well told story. If you're expecting Ocean's 11, or something similar with action or suspense, please just keep on moving.

Whip Crack

I must again apologize for the fact that I haven't been updating, it's just been a rough couple weeks and I haven't been able to motivate myself to sit down and write. But thats no excuse... I saw this movie last night, midnight show of course, but I was too tired to review it when I got home, and then ended up sitting on it all day. The movie is, of course...

Indiana Jones
and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls

Of course the movie doesn't have a box office yet, I fear that it will be much lower than this movie deserves, I will update on Monday, I can give you my word on this. EDIT Whoops! Almost forgot to update the box office. Indy 4 opened at an amazing $100,137,835 and has gone on to make $298,347,101 worldwide already, and it's only been a week!

The movie is about, of course, Indiana Jones and his latest adventure. Taking place in 1957 it is about ten years since the last film, leaving Indy a much older man. He is captured by Commie Russians to aide in the search for the hidden kingdom of gold, which legend tells if a stolen crystal skull is returned, will give great power to the person who brought the skull.

The movie is, in my opinion, really great. I loved it from start to finish, the interaction between Harrison and Shia made me laugh so many times, and the aging adventurer, archaeologists, and part time college professor Jones still kicks as much ass as he does in previous films.

But, moving past that, I know this movie will not be well received. I was discussing this with a friend, and he put it very well... "Which is better: Magical Religious Artifacts, or Magical Alien Artifcats?" He followed by saying some people cannot take both. I know it will turn off some casual fans, and downright enrage Indy fans to see so much reference to Alien beings... But when I saw it, I saw what was really going on...

Indiana Jones was based off of the old Action Comic Serials from the 1940s, where gung ho adventurers would traverse the jungles with nothing more than a machete, a side arm, and a rope. Where these treasure seekers could lay out a man with one well placed sock in the jaw, and often saved a new damsel in distress with each new adventure.

This is the core of what Indy was, these serials. But when the 1950s came about, Serials were about Men from Mars, alien beings from distant worlds and dimensions. The serials took a new aspect of sci-fi and government conspiracies. I found it amazingly entertaining to see Indy follow suit as he moved from the brazen adventures of the 40s to the sci-fi terrors of the 1950s.

This is a movie that will probably split the fan-base in two, those who love and hate it... And it's a shame, because it really was a great film.

A side note, I will be updating more often hell or high water, I have a stack of new movies to review including Rambo, The Eyes, and yet another Asylum flick, plus maybe a Movie Industry Rant if I can get my thoughts down straight.

X Marks the Spot... Again

I have to apologize for the lack of updates, I had a sudden case of real life and was unable to watch any movies in the past week. But I have today, and it's one I've wanted to do since I got it on Tuesday. It feels right doing this as what my first review was... So I bring you...

National Treasure 2:

Book of secrets

National Treasure opened at number one in theaters and made $44,783,772 it's first weekend, going on to make $219,548,127 national and a total of $456,878,994 world wide.

In this installment of National Treasure, Benjamin Gates is brought evidence that his great grandfather was the mastermind behind the Lincoln assassination, refusing to believe it he goes off to search for the truth, finding yet another string of clues in history, and another forgotten treasure.

Not much I can truly say about this movie. It follows the same formula as the first, Ben and his gang follow clues tied into historical landmarks and buildings, attempting to stay under the radar of the authorities and out of the cross-hair's of rival treasure hunters. Thats not to say that is bad, the movie is once again a very good popcorn flick.

If you enjoyed the first one, you'll enjoy this one, if you didn't enjoy the first you'll probably pass over this movie without a second thought anyway. Though I am glad to hear that there is works for a third installment. I've always been a bit of a fan of Nicholas Cage, and he plays this role of a man too smart for his own good very well.

If you're a fan of action films with a hint of mystery, and a well contained story, go ahead and pick up National Treasure 2 when it's released on May 20th.

Untraceable

So as promised, the review I planned yesterday, I'm still plan on seeing and reviewing Forbidden Kingdom today, but I cannot make any promises as I'm not sure as to when or if I will be able to get to the movie theater today... But enough of that, lets move onto...

UNTRACEABLE

Untraceable did a bit poorly in theaters. It only made $11.3 million it's opening weekend and 28.6 million total in America, well below it's $35 million dollar budget. Although it did make $48.5 million world wide. Unfortunately, most studios consider only the opening weekend of a movie for it's success.

This is another movie that was panned by critics. It was considered hypocritical in it's message against shock sites with it's blatant display of 'torture porn'. I don't agree with these opinions. The movie is at it's core a Thriller with some aspects of Horror, this means that there will be scenes that are both shocking and horrifying.

The movie is about Jennifer Marsh, an agent in the FBI's Cybercrime department. It's her job to catch internet criminals the likes of identity theft and internet pedophiles. She soon gets a tip of a website, KillWithMe.com, a site where a person is killed live via streaming web cam. The more people who watch, the faster the person dies. Jennifer must now try and find and stop the murderer before the internet masses kill any more people.

The movie seems to hone in on the internet community, anyone who has been to certain seedier sites knows that shock videos and disturbing images come in by the bucket load and that there are those who frequent these sites that not only watch, but enjoy it. One of the more enjoyable things of this movie is pausing it and reading the 'comments' of the murder site.

But don't go into this movie expecting something big or long lasting, it is a competent Thriller and nothing more. It has some truly gruesome death scenes for the gore fans... But there is very little more to it than that. Not that thats a bad thing...

I suggest this movie to anyone who's interested in the internet, it's spanning communities and technology, as well as fans of thrillers and gore fests. It's not as deep as Silence of the Lambs, nor as brutal as Hostel, but it finds a nice balance in between.

Go Speed Racer Go!

Sorry for the lack of updated lately, my personal schedule kind of worked against me the pact couple days. I had actually planned on reviewing Untraceable today, but was unable to finish it. I wasn't able to finish it because of the movie I'm reviewing today... So expect Untraceable tomorrow as well as, if plans go right, a Forbidden Kingdom review. But for now...

SPEED RACER

As speed racer just released today, I of course have no numbers for it. That will be updated Monday when the Box Office numbers come in as per usual. EDIT: Apologies for the lateness in getting to this. Speed racer had an opening weekend of $18,561,337, this is unfortunately low, but was predictable.

The movie is of course, if you didn't know, an adaptation of the 1960's Anime, which was one of the first Animes to come to America. It's about Speed Racer, a young man who is a natural at racing. When he hits it big he is pulled into realizing the corruption in the sport that has been his whole life. He decides to fight against it the only way he knows how, by winning...

It seems that Speed Racer was thoroughly thrashed by most Critics out there, and I can not understand why. The only reason I can think of is that most critics don't know the source material, that being the anime. The way the film portrays some of the campy almost tongue in cheek humor from the original show, while still maintaining an involving and well told story is just masterful.

The movie is also visually stunning. Every scene is just beautiful and vibrant, the world this movie creates just feels like a real world anime, and keeps amazing throughout as we see new and mind blowing effects and scenery throughout.

The only problem I can see is the uninitiated. This movie does tailor to fans and kids, and perhaps those who have never heard or seen Speed Racer might take the story and portrayal of the world as a bit kiddy and hard to swallow...

I suggest this to anyone who enjoys Speed Racer, the adaptation revolutionizes and modernizes the world, while still remaining amazingly true to the source material. It's also a great film for families, or people just looking for an amazing spectacle of visualization and action.

Monster Bash

Bleh... I really don't want to do this. In fact yesterday I put this movie off until the night, and actually fell asleep half way through because of how tired I was. But I made a promise, finished the movie today, and now I bring to you...

MONSTER

Another direct to DVD flick by the film studio The Asylum, the company that has no shame in ripping other people off, in this case, Cloverfield. Now again there are no numbers, not even for simple DVD sales. Trust me, I've looked...

Before we get to the actual movie... Lets talk about the actual ripping off part, the Handycam. Giant Monster movies are not rip offs, they are in fact genres of course... A rather old genre though, that has lost a lot of steam in the past few years... I always thought the idea of the handycam would bring back some old classic genre flicks, like George Romero's upcoming Diary of the Dead. What a great way to reinvision the classic Zombie Movie...

But I'm getting away from my point. Giant Monster movies are a Genre, Handycams are a great way to put life back into dying genres... A Giant Monster Movie filmed in Handycam? Rip off.

On to the actual movie the plot is pretty simple. Two film makers, sisters, go to Japan to make a documentary about global warming. It is in the middle of an interview that the city is attacked by a strange monster, the girls spend the rest of the movie trying to escape while documenting every moment.

Let me start off by saying these two girls, established as filmmakers in the film, must have the worst camera ever made. Throughout the film you will be bombarded by static, warping and distorted tape, and a variety of other camera glitches that really should not occure every time the camera is moved slightly to the left.

Cloverfield got a lot of stick for it's camera work in regards to obscuring any full shot of the monster attacking with buildings or angle, but Monster takes it well beyond that as we never see anything more than a tentacle or two of the actual creature attacking the city. This truly takes away from the atmosphere of the film because, to me at least, it's hard to be afraid of something that has no apparent sensory... Tentacles can not see, hear, or smell and therefore simply flail around... Makes the monster more of a hazard than anything to be afraid of.

The atmosphere is further reduced as we see the girl's many a time on a pristine city street with nary a sign of debris at all, or a flourishing park, a roof top, a very nice looking store... The movie continues to give us the impression that Tokyo is being destroyed... But we never get that impression from the scenery at all until it's necessary for the plot to have a pile of rubble for them to walk on.

The acting though, from the two leading actresses at least, is pretty decent. Not award winning, but more than you'd expect from the material given. The girls do their best to make do with the material, and while there were scenes that grained down on me, I can only compliment the two for doing the best they can with what they were given.

Sadly it was not enough.

Another flop from The Asylum, another movie I wish I had never watched. The only saving point truly was going in expecting it to be as bad as AvH, going in with lowered standards is the only way to watch this movie... I suggest you just pass on by if you see it.

Wake Up

Two movies in one day, I'm on a roll. This movie though, is not of the aforementioned pile I got last week, no this is from the pile I got today. It's a movie I walked by every day at worked, but never realized what it was. Now I do, so without further interruptions I bring you...

AWAKE

Awake seems to have gotten a lot of stick from some critics, though it was never made available to critics before release, it went on to make $14,223,684 domestic and $15,228,733 worldwide.

The premise is simple enough... Clay Beresford is a billionaire business man in his early twenties, he's in love with a girl, and could not ask for anything more. Theres just one problem...He has a weak heart, and a rare blood type. When a donor heart finally comes in he is put under for the operation. It's soon after he realizes he is still awake, completely paralyzed, and that his doctors plan to kill him.

I'm not exactly sure why the critics at large seemed to deem this movie a failure, though not all of them did... Roger Ebert said he was completely absorbed by the film. I'm not going to pretend this is the greatest film of all time, but it was good. The story was involving, the characters genuine, and Hayden Christian does a wonderful job in the lead as Clay. It's not a film that will change your life, nor does it pretend to be. It's a movie that has a story that it tells well.

Definitely worth a watch. It's unique and doesn't pretend to be anything that it's not.

The Geek Debaters

Another day another movie. I wax actually planning on doing this last night, but when I got home I found myself just a little too tired to watch a movie and then review it. So I went to bed so I could be refreshed and ready to review...

The Great Debaters

The Great Debaters opened up at 11th it's first weekend while bringing in 6,005,180 and going on to making $30,227,882 total, more than double it's 15 million dollar budget.

The Great Debaters is about a great many things. It's core plot is about Melvin B. Tolson (Denzel Washington) the coach of the Wiley College Debate Team in 1935 America and his students, but tackles other issues like dealing with the depression, fear of communism and socialism in America, and of course Racism in the south.

Denzel Washington plays the part of lead role and director of this film and does a very good job. I've always liked Denzel, the man has a certain charisma and attitude that always makes him the perfect choice for movies with heavy dialog (Philadelphia, Malcolm X).

The movie touches on each issue of the time without being overbearing or coming off self righteous, which is pretty impressive considering just how many issues are touched upon and the very nature of the film, debate teams, people who argue two very polar ideas to a conclusion.

The movie is based on true events, and is definitely worth watching. I suggest this to a person who enjoys films like Dead Poets Society and Philadelphia. The Great Debaters will be available on DVD Tuesday May 17

Sink Your Teeth Into

And yet another review. I believe this is a new record for me. So what I have for today is a movie not available until March Sixth (this Tuesday), so I kind of feel like a legit critic, reviewing something before it's available to the public. It is none other than...

TEETH

Teeth is a film that was traveling the indie film festivals last year and never had a national theater release, so it does not have a Box Office number. Though Jess Weixler, the lead actress, won the Special Jury prize for Dramatic Performance at the Sundance Film Festival in 2007, a reward she well deserved.

The plot, if you don't follow the Independent Film circles is this; Dawn is a special girl, she is the most active member of her and her friends Chaste Club, though when a new boy comes to town she begins having impure thoughts. When these two young teenagers go out for a swim, things move to far for Dawn and thats when she discovers her Vagina Dentata. Dawn then tries to understand, cope with, and eventually enjoy her unique vaginal teeth.

The movie is quite honestly great. It's unique, well preformed, and masterfly combines aspects of dark comedy with actual horror. The woman playing Dawn, Jess Weixler is great in this role, and I do hope to see her move swiftly into some mainstream work, she is simply great to watch on screen.

A lot of this movie is about sex, obviously, and abstinence. There is a scene that is truly creepy as Dawn comes to speak at an abstinence seminar where all the children spout in unison quotes from the bible.

I think the true message of this movie is; if you're going to have sex... Make sure it's safe.

Reign Over Geek

I have on my desk a slew of interesting movies, each one I plan on giving a review to... Beowulf, the movie I mentioned in my AVH review Monster, and two movies I plan to review tomorrow that have not yet hit the streets on DVD; The Great Debaters and Teeth. In all honesty I am looking forward to Teeth, I heard about it a while ago while it was running the indie film festivals. But for tonight I am reviewing...

Reign Over Me

The numbers for this particular movie are difficult, as it did not play in all theaters nation wide. It only played in 1,671 theaters when it opened, grossing 7.5 Million for the first weekend, and going on to make 19.7 Million national, and 1.2 Million international.

I want to start off by saying that I absolutely love when comedy actors play a drama, it always puts a smile on my face and always lets us see how much range they truly have. Robin Williams did this in Final Cut, Insomnia, and One Hour Photo, Jim Carrey does it in The Number 23, and Adam Sandler does it in Reign over Me.

That being said when I first started to see trailers for this movie I groaned. I thought it was going to be a movie that sort of exploited 9/11 for the plot like World Trade Center, or United 93. Thats not to say that 9/11 should be barred from movie plot, but it seems cheap, as to attack a movie like that would be akin to attacking the actual events themselves.

But this movie... Does not do that. The movie, for those who don't know, is about two men... Alan Johnson, a family man and dentist meets up with his old high school friend Charlie Fineman, a man who has lost his family and life in the events of 9/11 who now suffers from Post Traumatic Stress syndrome. The movie follows the two men's friendship as they lean on each other and eventually make steps to help Charlie face his problems and gain his life back.

The movie does not dwell so much on 9/11, it truly feels like it is simply a movie about two friends who need each other to help solve their problems. This movie also has some truly heart wrenching scenes as Charlie tries to cope with what happened and attempt to overcome his illness.

Adam Sandler does an amazing job in this movie, really showing his skill as an actor. And his chemistry with Don Cheadle makes the friendship between Alan and Charlie look so genuine. The struggle as Charlie attempts to get help for his PTS is portrayed so well, it's actually yugs at your heart to see the pain in his eyes...

The movie is great, it's powerful, deep, and has many laughs as well. You may find yourself laughing out loud in one scene, and then brought to tears in another. A great film for those who love to watch movies with real people and real emotions in them.

Iron Geek

As promised to you by me last night, I have a new review of a new movie that is actually in theaters. It released today (May 2) and I was able to catch a Midnight Showing. It is none other than...

Iron Man

As it is a fresh from the pot new release there are no numbers yet for Iron Man, though this Monday I will get them and be able to post them accordingly. I am sure this will be the top grossing movie of the weekend.
EDIT: Numbers are in, and man they're impressive. Iron Man went on to make $104,250,000 Domestic and $95,500,000 foreign, making its total world wide gross $199,750,000. Thats nearly two hundred million... and it's only the opening weekend!

Iron Man. It's yet another Comic Book movie. We're getting a lot of them this year and I couldn't be happier because more is on the way. The synopses, for those of you who haven't read the comic is this; Tony Stark, head of Stark Enterprises a leading arms seller to the US Government is gunned down while making a presentation of one of his companies latests weapons. He finds himself a captive of terrorists, and severely wounded. When freed he finds a new inspiration to life and builds himself a high tech battle suit to protect people from the weapons he himself created.

I have to admit... When I first heard about this movie and that Robert Downy Jr. was slated to play Iron Man, I was hesitant. Robby boy is a great actor don't get me wrong, and I wasn't trying to be slated by his past... But could he handle...Iron Man? Could he be Tony Stark?

The answer is yes. In fact I am always shocked that I didn't see it sooner. There is probably no man better to play a cocky egomaniac playboy like Stark better than Jr. The man comes off with this cocky yet charming attitude and comes off as really funny.

The whole movie is great. The effects of the Iron Man suit are amazing and seamless, it looks truly wonderful and at the same time looks like it's there. The action is fast paced yet easy to follow and involving. The story comes together nicely and while not being an expert on Iron Man, I believe they stayed true to the source material.

I will be very glad to see a franchise of sequels come from this. Though I do believe Marvel has something up their sleeves with these new summer releases... I cannot be quoted on this, but with the Hulk coming out this summer and a Captain America film announced, I believe the Avengers movie will be a direct Movieverse crossover.

Go see the film. And remember to stay for the End Credits.