Smoking Aces

Well I can't say for sure if my movie viewing experience has gone up or down this week, so we'll just say it remained ... level. Sorta like a patient that has flat-lined on the operating table. But have no fear! I am anxiously awaiting a couple of new flicks to roll off the celluloid assembly line and light my fire this year.

Nick Cage's Ghost Rider might be fun. I like Nick, can't wait to see National Treasure II. Also looking forward to 300 men. It'll be like football but with lots of swords and arrows! And that folks is right up my alley!

As for Smoking Aces, I guess the writer was smoking something when he wrote it. The first part of the film hand holds the audience in order to explain everything to us simple minded viewers. So we understand, it's a bunch of crazy hit men out to kill one crazy playboy of a man. Oh and there's some pissed off feds sprinkled in the mix.

Then there's the fun part. Lots of guns, lots of killing. I want to say this film reminds me of another movie where they build up to this big show down in a hotel...but I can't think of the name of it. Might be Domino.

Then after all the killing, we are introduced to the clever twist at the end which isn't so spectacular, not even close to the Usual Suspects, but again the audience is handheld while they explain it all to us and we go "Oh...I get it!"

Save your 5.75 and buy some dental floss and a new toothbrush, you're mouth will be happy and you'll be happy. PS - Don't tell the movie studio I gave this one a pass, or they might put a five dollar hit out on me!

The Hitcher

While driving across the desert, Jim (Zachary Knighton) and Grace (Sophia Bush) stop by the side of the road to pick up a hitchhiker — who turns out to be a murderous psychopath (Sean Bean).

While the couple quickly ditches their would-be assassin, the maniacal killer follows them along the dusty backroads and they engage in a nasty game of cat-and-mouse. A remake of the cult horror film starring Rutger Hauer, C. Thomas Howell and Jennifer Jason Lee.

If I had not seen such a dud last week I might have given this film a dud rating. However after seeing Children of Men, I can only go up. This is basically a film that has no real plot or point to it other than senseless violence and gore. They were even skimpy on the gratoitous sex. What an outrage! ;)

I was surprised that such a talented better known actor like Sean Bean would take such a low brow role after doing films like James Bond, and The Holy Lord of the Rings Triology. He only had about five lines in the whole movie. My favorite was when the police detective asked him why he was on a murderous rampage he replied. "Why not?" which is probably the same thing he said when he accepted the role. Hey, gotta pay the bills!

It's a definate pass at the theater, but if you see it on late one night on cable or there is nothing else to rent at the video store then catch a ride with The Hitcher!

Children of Men

"Children of Men" is set in the near future where the human race is on the brink of extinction.

Global violence, loss of civil liberties, illegal immigration, destruction of the environment, obsession with celebrity - all paint a bleak and depressing future. Oh wait those headlines are the same as today's headlines. Be warned this is a depressing movie with death and acute oppression around every corner.

Based on a novel by P.D. James, "Children of Men" shows a world were females have become infertile. No babies have been born for more than 18 years. The story takes place in the United Kingdom, where the military keeps order. Foreigners are rounded up, placed in detention camps and sent back to their home nations, with only a few Brits protesting the government's insensitive treatment.
The main character, Theo (Clive Owen) doesn't care that the world's demise seems inevitable. Once an activist, now a bureaucrat, he numbs himself with alcohol, or pot that he gets from his only friend, Jasper (Michael Caine), an aging hippie who lives in the country.

He is suddenly thrust into the chaos around him when a woman from his past, Julian (Julianne Moore), a leader in the refugee-rights movement, contacts him. Julian needs transit papers that will get refugee Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey) out of the country and into the hands of the Human Project, a group devoted to saving mankind from self-destruction. Kee has a secret that could give the world hope again, but it also puts her in jeopardy.

Owen dose fine as the reluctant hero, but Michael Caine, who is usually a pleasure to watch comes off as an annoying over the top hippy whose only line seems to be "amigo!" Several of the other cast members all seems to have strange quirks as well making the film as painful as hearing the pots and pans rack in your kitchen fall and strike the tile floor.

As if that wasn't enough, the filmmaker must be a dog lover because nearly every scene of the movie has a yapping, whining, underfoot dog in it, which I found very distracting. I think the movie had potential to make a statement as to where the world is headed, but I lost that message in the unnecessary "noise" the other elements created.

Calvin and Hobbes

Happy Tanksgiving!!!

Casino Royale

I am a huge bond fan. Of course no one can out class Sean Connery, but I did think that Pierce Brosnan was the best looking bond and I loved his films.

I was disheartened when the franchise decided not to continue with Pierce, and I did not like the looks of the new guy, Daniel Craig.


However, a bond film is a bond film, and I was willing to give Craig a shot. While I still don't agree with his looks, or even his on screen charm as a perfect bond, he did an excellent job with the role. Casino Royale captured the style and feel of a some of the Connery films and yet added its own fresh style at the same time. We see the smooth, elegant, charming Bond, but at the same time a rough on the edge, sometimes out of control Bond as he learns the ropes (sometimes painfully) as a super secret agent.

The film had a great story, and thankfully the arch villan was not over the top and there was even a twist or two in the plot. And even no "over the top" stunts we have seen in recent bond films. They kept it simple, and I liked it.

This is a MUST see! Check it out or be eliminated!

Flags of Our Fathers

Shouldn't the title be FLAG of our fathers? I mean the movie is about the men that planted the FLAG in the famous picture taken in Iwo Jima. Although in the movie we learn that it was the second flag being planted on the hill that got in the picture. So maybe that explains the plural of the word flag in the title.

It was a good story, about the lives of the men that planted that flag, but the film was no Saving Private Ryan. Check it out!

If mankind completely disappeared...

It's Scorsese, so it's violent and vulgar, but excellent performances by Nicholson, DiCaprio,
and Damon. Even Mark Wahlberg steals the show as a stereotypical hard-ass police sergeant.

You'll wonder who the good guys are and who the bad guys are in this cop and robber thrill ride with a surprise ending.


Plenty of dead bodies and a steamy love scene.
Check it out now! Go on...do it!!

"We're all on our way out...so act accordingly!"
-Frank Costello (Jack Nicholson)

Talladega Nights

Over the top stupit humor!!!

What else did you expect??

White & Nerdy

Music video by "Weird Al" Yankovic from the album "Straight Outta Lynwood"

Miami Vice

I loved Miami Vice! Great nod to the TV show I watched growing up. Collin Ferrel is not as cool as Don Johnson was, but he did a good job.

The film has lots of action, guns, and girlfriends. A complex story of drugs and kidnapping. I didn't care for Barry Henley's Lt. Castillo
(Crockett and Tubbs boss), he played the jazz club owner in director Michael Mann's earlier film, Collateral.

The movie dragged a little in a few spots, and it's not a must see on the big screen, but overall I really enjoyed it! Check it out!

Clerks II

Vulgar. Porno humor. Inter-species Erotica?

But like a bad train wreck you can't look away. You have to watch just to see what they will say or do next.

If you liked Clerks I then most likely you'll cheer this encore presentation of your favorite losers.

I'd just rent it when it comes out on DVD and make sure the kids are away at camp.

POTC2 - Dead Man's Chest

Your favorite pirates arrrrgh back in the second installment of Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest. This film is pretty much more of the same. Pithy comments from CAPTAIN Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), sea battles, daring sword fights, and scary villains.

This time rather than a ghostly crew of skeletons, its half-man half-seacreature bad guys, and a giant squid that eats ships. If you liked the first one, then you must catch its sequel even if it runs a bit long and has a cliff hanger ending that sets up for the third film in the trilogy.

Set sail for the theater and check it out!!

Superman Returns

The man of steel is back! This film borrows a lot from the original Superman movie with Christopher Reeves. Borrows a lot of lines. One thing noticeably missing is Lex Luthor's dufus toady, played by Ned Beatty. In the new movie, lex's thugs are all business, mean and nasty.

As to new comer, Brandon Routh, I have to say I liked Christopher Reeves 'Clark Kent' better. I thought Reeves was much funnier. On the other hand, Routh makes an excellent Superman.
The film goes a bit long. Seems Hollywood is making them that way ever since that little Lord of the Rings Trilogy. But overall I enjoyed the film. If you are a superhero fan... then fly faster than a speeding bullet and check out the return of Superman!

DVD Tuesday

Pierce Brosnan and Greg Kinnear star in this movie about the friendship between a professional hit man and a down-on-his-luck businessman.

Julian Noble (Brosnan) is an aging hit man who gets blue when he realizes he has no friends and no home. In a Mexico City hotel bar, he meets Danny Wright (Kinnear), who's there trying to put together some kind of business deal. Later, Julian shows up at the Wright home in Denver and moves in with Danny and his wife, who can't help being fascinated by their strange guest.

Buy it for your Pierce Brosnan collection!

CARS

Excellent animated film! A little long for the three-year old department, but kids age 7 to 70 will love it.

Larry the Cableguy should give up on the bigscreen dreams and stick to stand-up and voice overs.

Race to the movies and check this one out!!

PS - Stay for the credits!

DVD Tuesday

If you liked Numbah one then you'll like Underworld Evolution. It's more of the same. The story continues where the last one left off.

More fight scenes, more ded bodies, and a nekkid Kate Beckinsale.
Check it out!







Firewall was pretty good. Harrison is getting too old for this. (So am I). It was a predictable thriller, but fun for a night of movies at home and a bowl of Kettle Corn.

Check it out!!

Movie Friday

Friday was a double feature for me! First I watched the new X-Men The Last Stand. The humans, or Homo-sapiens as the mutants like to call them, have developed a "cure" for the mutant-X gene. In other words, it turns mutants into humans.

This of course doesn't set well with the mutant community and a war begins to brew, especially when the humans weaponize the "cure."

If you liked X-men one and two, then you will want to check out the final chapter of the trilogy.

But in my opinion, the first two movies were better. Maybe because this one had a different director. The film seem to never quite "take-off." It had a lot of potential but fizzled at points. Ian McKellan as Magneto and Patrick Stewart as the professor are of course always a pleasure to watch. They always raise the bar for any character they play.

Next I saw Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code. I had not read the book. I have read Angels and Demons, which most people say was better. Some were saying that if you had not read the book, you might be lost during the movie. I did not find this to be the case for myself. I followed along quite well and enjoyed the movie. I think it is a great fictional story.

Some critics say it's not Tom Hanks Best film, but I don't think it was supposed to be, He didn't have any over the top dramatic scenes, and he wasn't supposed to be funny either. He was playing an academic and I think he did a great job. For the second time today I got to see Ian McKellan in a different role as a philanthropist in search of the true Holy Grail.

I don't give both flicks a must see, but if you are an X-Men fan or a Dan Brown fan, check them out!

Movie Friday

Poseidon was a disaster. A disaster movie! It was A lot like the original. Same kind of feel, different character's though, younger perhaps. They tried to give the characters some depth, but I wasn't buying what they were trying to sell.

Even so, the thought of a huge cruise ship tumbling over on the ocean and people fighting for their lives, was still thrilling enough to keep my attention.

The ending of course was piled high with over the top suspense, but would else would I expect??

It was worth a matinee, but don't make it an all out night at the movies. Take the kids to see Over the Hedge instead. That looks hilarious!!