Reviews

War Dogs had me captivated at the way the events unfold, as we see two arms dealers try to score big. The movie tells a good story and keeps you curious on how events will turnout. The down side of this movie is we have seen such on screen pair before and while watching you have this striking feeling that the more outspoken carefree character will mess up everything for the partners, so there is no element of surprise when it finally happened.

Everyone is always aiming for that one big score, but sometimes the price to pay for that score can eventually make the score a useless endeavour. That was what this movie had to deliver as we watch two childhood friends form a company AEY, which deals specifically in arms deals with the U.S. Pentagon.

The movie has one of the best performances I have seen Jonah Hill pull off, he was a master of character shifts in this movie playing a greedy and intelligent Efraim Diveroli. Jonah Hill deserves all the praise he is getting for his performance and even more, as his presence takes the movie which could have been done better into what is enjoyable.

War Dogs is a biographical crime drama directed by Todd Phillips. The movie plot is based on a story published in Guy Lawson's 2015 book Arms and the Dudes. Although the movie is biographical many of the elements and happenings were fictions, just wound together to make a more compelling story.

What these two 20 something friends did rocked the U.S. Army and caused it to review its procurement dealers and measures.

The movie is narrated by David (Miles Teller) who is a licenced massage therapist. David is tired of giving massages to old people for a living, and tried his hand on selling bedsheets to old people's home, but the business failed and David was to lose all his savings. When his old time childhood friend and bad influence Efraim shows up at a burial of a mutual acquaintance, the two hooked up and tried igniting their past fun days. After hearing about David's predicament and his unborn child on her way Efraim asked David to come join him as an arms dealer. Their work together made them enough money to buy houses and live a good life, but they always wanted more and decided to go for a big score worth $ 300 million.

The problem is, they had to fool the U.S. Army to get away with it.

A good enough movie to see even if it is just to appreciate the performance of Jonah Hill.

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Mel Gibson has not been starring in major blockbuster hits lately, with his last attempt on a large screen is with ensemble cast in Expendables 3 (2014). Here in this under the table movie, which I can bet many would not have heard of is Blood Father, based on a book of the same name by Peter Craig. The movie has many elements which reminds you of Taken (2008), and some which reminds you of Gibson himself in Lethal Weapon.

The Taken (2008) aspect of this movie has Gibson's character Link (an ex-convict tattoo artist) willing to do anything he can based on his skills as a biker gang member and links in prison to protect his daughter. The Lethal Weapon part in this movie has Gibson's character pull out crazy stunts and do crazy things, putting his life in danger.

Not dripping down with much of a cast, the movie makes the best of the cast it has, and Gibson's weird beard and weird view of the world were an awesome side attraction when he and his daughter were not trying to get out of the way of flying bullets to get to safety.

The movie plot isn't solid, but the directing by Jean-Francois Richet (who was the man behind the camera in the action thriller Assault of Precinct 13 (2005)) was well done and captured my interest as the movie glides gently, to a climatic end.

The movie starts with a girl, Lydia buying bullets. She gives the bullets to her boyfriend who leads a crew of men to a house in an attempt to kill the inhabitants. Lydia was asked to prove her loyalty by killing a lady who lived in the house in a panic frenzy she shoots her boyfriend unintentionally and ran away while being chased by his crew.

Link was an ex-con now tattoo artist, who has been looking everywhere for his daughter Lydia. She finally contacts him and ask for help to get away from the men trying to kill her.

Link gets to her before the men does and tries to help her by keeping her away from the men who she claims are her friends. When the crew storms Link's place and a shoot-out begins which only ended because Link's neighbours came to save his ass, Link and his daughter are now on the run from the goons after them.

With Link contacting his own crew to be able to bring this chase to an end without involving the cops.

This is a movie I will advise you get the time to see and enjoy.

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I have not been a huge fan of any movie that drags longer than just two parts, for that reason I delayed in watching this new Iron man, in fact the last one wasn't so great so I wasn't expecting much here, but boy was I impressed. When Disney took over Marvel this was one movie that I knew took in some cash to get done and I was skeptical, as to me cash is not what makes good movies, it is good stories, well Iron man 3 had a good story and the supporting cast were just off the hook. The movie had a nice comic feel, and the action scenes were relentless, the writers were always leaving me speechless by the turn of events making me eager to see where the movie was going.

The writers decided to keep all things on the level of science, in the Iron Man comic book series the Mandarin is his archenemy and he is portrayed to be a genius scientist and an extremely skilled martial artist. The Mandarin showcases some powers which sources are ten power rings that he adapted from the alien technology of a crashed space ship. Here in this movie the Mandarin is just a face of the true villain and there is no evidence of him having a common sense, the move had a pure scientific genius hiding behind the face of Mandarin.

The movie picks up with a flash back of when Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) was having a New Year's Eve party, there he met scientist Maya Hansen. Maya was working on an invention called Extremis—an experimental regenerative treatment intended to allow recovery from crippling injuries. Maya wanted to work with Stark to make this drug work, but Stark rejected the offer.

Years later, Stark's experiences during the alien invasion of New York were making him restless. Out of that he built several dozen Iron Man suits, all tied to work with his subconscious, this act created friction with his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). A terrorist called the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) has been the orchestrator of a string of bombings all done with no forensic evidence to trace the type of bomb used. When Stark Industries security chief Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is badly injured in one such attack, Stark overcomes his stupor and issues a televised threat to the Mandarin.

That led to Mandarin retaliating bringing down Starks home and the world thought Stark died, so Stark used his now presume state to hunt down the Mandarin and discovered that the Mandarin is not who he thought he is.

This movie is clearing cash in the box office, and I believe it will cross the 1 billion mark soon, so if you have not seen this movie, I wonder what you are waiting for

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There is no crazier movie in the 90s that can cause to feel uneasy like the way Se7en did. Seven used imagery and your ability to imagine the insanity level of the perpetuator, to thrill you. The whole idea of using a gore scene to take majority of the movie's screen time and then satisfy the weird nature of some viewers was totally eliminated and the movie just focused mostly on character development which many may see as boring but it (the movie) still carried on to be a masterpiece. When you see the way the co-stars interact you will just bow in respect to their mastery of acting. Morgan Freeman played the old father figure and a detective who has seen too much of the streets and is so eager to retire and leave it all behind, while Brad Pitt played the younger cop, who is full of energy and is ready to jump off roof tops and chase down bad guys. The movie also made use of an array of supporting actors that are very good on their own to star in a film, actors like Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey, and Kevin Spacey, were also onboard in this thriller.

Seven features the newly transferred David Mills (Brad Pitt) and the soon to retire William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) as homicide detectives who become deeply involved in a case about a sadistic serial killer whose accurately planned murders corresponding to the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, pride, lust, and envy.

The movie's name is seven but it is mostly characterized by Se7en and it is a most see in many levels. The thrill that the movie brings and the chemistry of the co-stars is one that you will not just find lying around in any movie. Seven became the first of 3 films that director David Fincher and actor Brad Pitt did together (that is as of now 2013) the others were The Fight Club (1999) and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008).

The movie was a massive hit in the 90s and it was a both a critical and a commercial success as the 30 million budget brought in over 327 million in the box office. Andrew Kevin Walker received a BAFTA Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay and the editor Richard Francis-Bruce was nominated for an Academy Award for Film Editing. Seven won the MTV movie award as the best film in its year.

If you haven't seen Seven before or you are in the mood of another fun thrilling ride as we chase down Kevin Spacey, then make time to see this movie again.

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Collateral is one movie I will always remember watching.

Collateral is a beautiful thriller and Jamie Foxx's portrayal of his character is welcoming and it gained him an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Collateral is a crime thriller film from one of the best directors around Michael Mann and his directorial ace is how he paced the movie, not to mention the packaging and the way the plot unfolds is just magical. Cruise did very well in his portrayal of a villain he was so well composed and the way he spoke will pass the message across that this individual is ready to do anything to get the job done.

Collateral has a hired assassin going on a ride with a taxi driver names Max (Jamie Foxx), all in the aim of making some stops and taking out some individuals that he was paid to do so. Max on the other hand had no idea that the passenger he was so eager to carry was one he never forget. Vincent (Tom Cruise) was the name of the passenger and he was ready to pay Max six hundred dollars to take him to some places.

Now Max has been a Cabby for 12 years and $ 600 in one night just from one person looked like a nice deal, so he took it and not long things started to change and Max latter regretted the decision. He also had to stand up to Vincent which took some guts, and in the end we learn, if it sounds too good to be true ($ 600 for a night for some stops), probably it is.

Collateral approaches you from a view of the hired assassins, and it solidifies the thought we have of them, heartless psychopaths with no morals at all. When you view the movie's build up to the eventual fallout of the relationship of the assassin and his unwilling apprentice, you just have to marvel on the way the story just kept flowing without send you to sleepyville.

Perpetuation is one thing that this movie has, although it doesn't get tiring you will notice it. This nice thriller did have some cinematography flops especially when there are trying to achieve a close up, it looked amateur, which was the idea mind you, but it was not cool.

The whole idea of a bad guy all up in suit and with white hair was just cool, as in Cruise looked cool in his portrayal. Collateral is one movie I will always remember watching and if you haven't seen it, I'm wondering why.

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Funny enough this franchise has not kind of picked up but it is a wonderful franchise, the story of Riddick is one that all have to see and then the video game that followed the release of Chronicles of Riddick, The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay was totally off the hook, I totally love Riddick. Pitch Black was a wonderful introduction to our Owl like friend who can see too well in the dark, but the movie that followed 4 years after The Chronicles of Riddick was a better movie and good follow up.

Mr. Riddick here is seen in this half an hour animation that is meant to be something like a bridge between the first movie and the second. Many that saw the first Pitch Black would have been impressed as I was with the way the movie played out, as the characters were well introduced and so after the movie ended I wondered what will become of the girl.

We had to wait 4 years before the makers David Twohy with the production assistance of Vin Diesel, to answer that question. After the new Riddick movie was done in 2004 this animation was also released as there seemed to be some form of hole between in the first movie and the second, so this animation was done to fill that hole. The animation style is anime, and although the animation was a little bit shaky and the story not so grand, but if you have seen the first and the second movie there seemed to be no reason not to see this one, as the cartoon showcased more of the fun of why we love Riddick and less of anything reasonable.

It also focused on solidifying the bond between Riddick and Jack, which was present in the first movie but in the second many who haven't seen the first will be unable to understand why Riddick will stop at nothing to bring down the Necromongers.

Here our hero (Riddick), Imam and Jack have escaped the planet from Pitch Black and they found themselves picked up by a mercenary ship where they encountered the ship's owner, Antonia Chillingsworth. She is obsessed in collecting criminals and putting them in her collection library. What she does is to capture them, freeze them and keep the frozen criminals as statues that are in her view, art.

Although the criminals are frozen, they are alive and conscious. Antonia views Riddick as a masterpiece a work of art she has to have and in her desire to see him kill using his wonderful techniques of seeing in the dark, Antonia made the mistake of letting Riddick go and putting him up against some funny machinery, and that is how some series of unfortunate events led to Riddick, Imam and Jack escaping.

In the end, this animation doesn't make you hate the franchise, but it doesn't make you love it either, it is not a must watch, but if you are preparing for the new Riddick movie coming out later this year you can just add it to your view list.

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No matter what the critics say, Chronicles of Riddick was one film I loved and enjoyed; some of the lines Riddick said still stick with me, indulge me: You made three mistakes: first, you took the job. Second, you came light, a four man crew for me f#@king insulting but the worst mistake you made, empty gun rack. Also when the Necromonger lord asked him to bow, he replied: I bow to no man.

If you are not in the Riddick army, I advise you take some time from you busy schedule to join in, by watching this well-crafted movie. The movie wasn't all that perfect there were some lapse in the story telling and then there were some things that didn't well correlate, but in the end the whole action scene and the whole idea of this night seer made the movie worth it.

Now there was a short animation movie that was done and released a day or so after this movie and it was done to bridge the gap between Pitch Black and this movie, the name of the 30 minutes animation was The Chronicles of Riddick: dark fury, which tells us how Jack got left with Imam.

Now Riddick is back at New Mecca to see Imam (after five years since they parted) when he heard that Jack has gone looking for him. Riddick learnt of a new threat that is swooping in on the universe the name of the pirates are the Necromongers and there is some prophesy that a Furyan (which is race that Riddick is from) will kill the leader of this new race, which are dead but alive.

Well the movie displays some very cool fight scenes that I will tell you. There were some areas where Riddick even did the impossible, by killing a guy with a cup.

The movie also gave a brief introduction to who Riddick is and where he is from and how come there is only he left of his race. The Chronicles of Riddick has a nice cult following that I myself I'm a full member, after the film I made sure I saw the animation and also played the game. The Chronicles of Riddick didn't do well in the box office, but its DVD sales were massive and so was the sale of the video game (The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay) that followed, on Xbox and on PC.

There seem to be another Riddick movie coming out this September, the budget is lower there than this movie but no matter, I can do with some more Riddick, what about you?

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Of all the Ice Cube films this is my favorite, it is filled with raw comedy and it is totally cool. The whole Idea of what trouble it is to steal an ATM machine, and then what happens when you borrow money from the wrong people was like a vehicle to progress when it comes to comedy in this film.

I guess my take on Barbershop is that the acting is very much OK, the comedy is well delivered and always straight to the point, causing you the watcher to make regular withdrawals at the laugh bank. The movie was like a helping hand to acting newcomers Eve and Michael Ealy, and it featured some well-rounded actors like Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer and Keith David.

Barbershop makes you laugh all through and plays on the issue that bothers many, "What matters most me or others?" Well that was the question Calvin Palmer, Jr. had to answer as he (Calvin played by Ice Cube) was faced with a dilemma, he either sells the barbershop and chase his dreams or keep it and continue to slug it out with life.

Well Calvin decided to go with the later, believing his dream is bigger and better so he gave up the barbershop that he inherited from his father by selling it to Lester Wallace (Keith David), who fooled Calvin to thinking he will still keep it as a barbershop when he actually will just keep the name Calvin's Barbershop and turn the shop to a gentleman's bar.

After a while Calvin learnt he had made a big mistake then he decided to take back the money which ended up being the whole problem that the film is based on, well actually that is half of what the film is based on, because let's not forget the theft of an ATM machine by JD (Anthony Anderson) and Billy, who believed that they could pry an ATM machine open with power tools.

I just can't tell you which was funnier to watch, "The tale of the ATM" or "Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer) in the barbershop." Both were just funny to the core, and in the end of the whole movie both incident ended up in the middle with everyone going home happy.

The huge success of the movie led to a sequel (Barbershop 2: Back in Business) being done two years later and then a Spin-Off Beauty Shop. Both movies didn't make as much money as the first and didn't get as much critical approval also.

So if you are like me looking for some good homemade laughs, go see barbershop again.

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This movie is more of a joke than it is meant to be scary, all through the 77 minutes of the movie I kept wondering, "Who in their right mind, came up with a script that has dolls facing up directly to humans", the idea is just bull.

We are all familiar with Child's Play (Chucky 1988) in fact some have become too familiar with the genre. What made Child's Play part one better than a lot of other movies in the same genre is that Chucky was sneaking up on people to kill them, also you will notice that the moment he decided to go at them directly he got killed. Here the toys are going at the humans and somehow managed to kill majority of them, well give it to them they were numerous while Chucky was just a single evil doll.

Stuart Gordon, the man behind this film tried to put you on the edge of your sit… (emphasis on the word tried); there were scenes where we get to see side glances from the toys as they sat on their shelves (smh).

Like most horror movies that seem to have a kid in the picture acting like a go between for the adults and the evil creatures, the child is initially not believed and often silenced when he or she airs their views on the strange happenings, with some other grownups giving out logical explanations to defeat what the child is saying. Same here also, the people involved in this movie are some passersby who got forced to go stay in a house like hotel, where the owners have a huge collection of dolls and as the name of the movie implies the dolls started killing the people.

There is no other way to look at it, any scene in the movie that had the dolls walking towards the person they wanted to kill, will just feed you the viewer with enough ammunition to ridicule the scene as you will keep wondering why in heaven's name he/she did not do this or that.

The movie's screenplay is a joke, some of the scenes that the adults were attacked looked like they wanted it, as some did little to nothing to get away from it. The acting is another problem in this movie, it was totally off and it was like the casting crew looked for the worst and cheapest actors available to make this movie.

If you have never heard or seen Dolls, be grateful.

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Magic is a film about a man who had a psychological problem, he had double personality disorder, and he lived out his second persona through a ventriloquist's dummy named Fats. The whole movie boils down to one character and that is Corky (Anthony Hopkins), it was important that he made his portrayal strong, because the whole movie is about him and him alone and how he was finding it hard to live his life without his Dummy Fats.

The part in the movie that was really stood out for me was the scene where Corky and Ben sat face to face, and Ben asked Corky to sit 5 minutes and not let Fats speak a word at all, the whole 2 minutes it lasted was just intense, with you thinking, "Is he going to break?" "When is he going to break?"

Magic is a clever movie one that we should all see

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The movie is more of a sight to see than a riddle job for the inquisitive mind, packed with enough twist and turns that puts you the viewer on a guess frenzy, Oblivion leaves you wondering where the threat is really coming from and whom to trust.

With a beautiful sight for sore eyes setting, Oblivion's wonderful scenery and bubble craft will make you sit down and enjoy more of what is happening on the screen, than what the story is trying to pass across. Tom Cruise seems to be in top form, in Jack Reacher (2012) he showed his acting prowess and dominated the film from start to finish, here too he displays the same prowess and even making Morgan Freeman more of a side show to what is happening in the uprising between Tom Cruise character Commander Jack Harper and the alien threat (where ever it was coming from).

Oblivion is based on an unpublished graphic novel of the same name by the director and producer Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy 2011). Joseph was able to bring to life his idea and concept, thanks to the 120 million production backing of universal studios. Although I still stand that the movie is a sight to see, it lacks in the area of its story, and it is not that the concept was not nice nor grand the screenplay was just boring at times. Do note they were action scenes to liven the mood, but the length in which you have to wait till the movie truly picks up, maybe worth it for some viewers, and may not for others.

The storyline is about what happens 60 years after the earth got attacked by aliens known as Scavs. It focuses on one of the few remaining survivors Commander Jack Harper who was on earth as a drone repairmen. While fulfilling his duty he discovers a crashed spacecraft with happens to contain things that bring to question everything he believed about the war. Soon later he got captured by the said aliens that were still on the earth and he uncovers a truth that rocked his world to his entire existence.

In the end I liked the way the movie turned out, it ended in a poetic tone and Tom Cruise's performance may be the greatest thing this movie has to offer other than the beautiful set pieces. So if you are a fan of the Mission Impossible man, then you will sure have fun seeing him here, but my final take is Oblivion could have been better.

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There is no doubt about it, Batman is the best there is, these Dark Knight Returns series is a classic and a DVD collection that should be on your shelf.

No one tries to take on "The Bat" thinking he can just walk all over him; even Superman almost got killed by The Bat for trying to tell him what to do. Here is a little peek of what this movie has for you: The Bat and Sup were at it and Sup almost got himself killed but The Bat went soft on him, and gave him this warning speech. "I want to remind you to stay out of my way, in all the years to come; in your most private moments, I want you to remember the one man who beat you."

Now wouldn't you want to see that?

The first part of the movie has the similar animation with this flick. The plot like the first features Batman at 55 years old 10 years after his retirement. The Bat has returned to clean up the streets once more, and this Part 2 of Frank Miller's Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, our Bat has taken down the Mutant Leader and he has now become a wanted person in Gotham City. The Joker convinced his psychiatrist to let him go on live TV to tell his own story about him and the Bat, but this psycho turned the live TV show to a massacre, killing everyone present and escaping. Now the bat wants him and the authorities want them both so the showdown between the three is a most watch.

After the showdown has lapsed the DC universe boy scout Superman got a call to go take down The Bat, a call I bet if he knew what was coming his way he would have not even bothered trying.

There aren't enough words to describe the intense violence and the wonderful work done by Bob Goodman (screenplay writer) and director Jay Oliva in this movie (animation) adaptation. They did justice to the beautiful comic, giving us a realistic point of view of what being a man in a disguise with guns being shot at you looks like. The other cool thing about this comic to video work is the way the makers took their time to make sure that the movie is close to the original source.

The characters Oliver Queen and the new 13 year old Robin, Carrie Kelley were well captured in this movie making you feel like you are truly reading the comic.

This DVD should be purchased and kept.

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Arguably you can say Crocodile Dundee doesn't have the perfect story line. You can also add that the acting in some areas could have use a little work and then not to mention the screenplay. Crocodile Dundee is weak in the story area, but then when you look at the film in general the unbelievable likability of the cast and Michael Dundee's (Paul Hogan) charisma, what you have is a movie that whenever you see it you find yourself smiling all the way through.

Crocodile Dundee is a classic Australian comedy film that was set in Outback Australia and New York. Paul Hogan felt the movie will shed more light on the bushman behavior and what he will be like if he was brought to America. The movie was a box office success making like 40 times its production cost (budget $8.8 million, commercial success over $328 million) and received with very high positive reviews.

The movie's innocent portrayal of the Dundee character makes it easy to fall in love with the guy and how Dundee manages to make new friends and get many people to like him also seemed like a recipe for a good film, which this movie was.

The movie plot features our protagonist Michael "Crocodile" Dundee, who is popular in Walkabout Creek and the Northern Territory in Australia because of his crocodile hunting skills which left marks on his body.

A news reporter from New York Sue Charlton (Linda Kozlowski) heard about his story and went looking for Dundee, found him and then brought him back with her to New York City, where Dundee gets a feel of how life is in the big apple.

The movie then transcend into a love story between Dundee and Sue, with a beautiful ending.

At the end of this film you will feel relieved and relaxed, and you will be tempted to see what else Dundee will get himself to. The high positive reviews that the movie got and the huge commercial success that it gained in the box office made the producers and Hogan make more sequels. So in 1988 a new Crocodile Dundee movie was released, tagged Crocodile Dundee II, which was less a critical success than the previous film and then 13 years later in 2001 a second sequel was made and tagged Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles.

In conclusion this movie is a classic keeper, so I do advise that you get the DVD.

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After the success of the first Crocodile Dundee the producers and the story writer Paul Hogan went to work to make another movie two years after the first and named it Crocodile Dundee II. The problem with this Crocodile Dundee is that the movie feels like it is being shoved down your throat and the whole thing looks coins the phrase, "We have seen it all before". The movie wasn't half bad it just had no point everything that happened practically had no purpose, and when something has no purpose it is just a waste.

The acting here is no better than the first, but now that we are all familiar with the Dundee charm, the writers decided to take him back to outback Australia so that we can see the bushman in him. This was suppose to bring in more action like adventure into the whole movie package, but what it just did was fill up so many minutes with unrealistic action scenes that you feel like fast forwarding to the whole thing.

The comedy here was out of sync; the whole idea of pairing Dundee with a Colombian drug lord and making the drug lord and his men look like just pure miscreants is not my idea of a well thought out antagonist. The movie lacked a lot of life and the makers decided to do a reverse, the setting started out in New York City then Dundee and Sue went to Australia a familiar turf for Dundee while he dealt with the bad guys.

The movie plot is about our duo love birds Dundee (Paul Hogan) and Sue (Linda Kozlowski) who get mixed up with a Colombian drug lord, who had his picture taken when he killed someone by Sue's ex husband. The ex then sent the film to Sue and the drug dealer found out then kidnapped Sue, all for him to find out that Dundee had the film.

Now Dundee has to find a way to stay alive and save the love of his life.

The movie was not a critical success but it was a huge commercial success, the $15.8 million production cost brought in over $239 million dollars, and it kept the Dundee name on our lips for a while, and making Hogan richer. But then the producers felt like milking the franchise some more so 13 years later in 2001 a new Dundee film was done starring also Hogan and Kozlowski, the new film failed both critically and commercially.

So after you are done watching the first Crocodile Dundee you may be tempted to see this misfit, so if you get the chance maybe you should. If you don't get that chance, use your time for something more productive.

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This new addition to the Crocodile Dundee franchise is like one of the worst thing that ever happened in 2001, at the end of the film you feel like Paul Hogan should pay you back for seeing this. The movie from the set go lacks vision, entertainment and if it were a direct to DVD movie it would have made more sense.

There was definitely no reason for them to have made this movie, but they did anyway and put it out there for us to see and dislike. This movie was so bad that I couldn't believe that it left the storyboard. Dundee (Paul Hogan) and Sue (Linda Kozlowski) are now together for like 15 years and they have a son named Michael after his father.

While living in Australia Sue got a call from her father that she should come and help hold down his office (a newspaper company) in Los Angeles while he attends to other matters. Sue (after Dundee said that he and Michael their son will go along) accepted the offer and moved with her family to Los Angeles, there both father and son were kind of out of it and made the news once for just not getting how things work in America.

The antagonist in this one is a phony movie production company, and in this flick we get to see Dundee go undercover. A side story to the whole movie plot has both Dundee and Sue not being married for the whole 15 years they have been together with Sue wanting it but not pushing it and Dundee just not manning up to do the right thing.

Trust me after you have read this review just run away from this flick, it is not worth the one hour thirty minutes I put into it. In this movie Hogan is all old, so is Sue and the whole cute lovable couple is not so cute anymore then there are scenes were we see some ladies go gaga for Dundee, I'm no woman but that guy looked old and out of it, so I didn't see the attraction.

I felt the makers wanted to see if they could still make some more money off the franchise but this $21 million production only made 39 million in the box office, maybe the DVD sales helped later on, that I don't know but one thing I'm glad for is that, I don't think there will be a Crocodile Dundee IV.

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Valentine's Day is a nice movie, I enjoyed the movie so much and out of all the romantic stories that are all intertwined together in this very wonderful love combination, the love stories that got me is the stories that had to do with Cpt. Katherine "Kate" Hazeltine (Julia Roberts) and Edison Hazeltine (Bryce Robinson). Their tale made all the other love stories look so insignificant. The acting that the two (Julia Roberts and Bryce Robinson) put into the film made it up for the crap that I witnessed from Jessica Alba and Aston Kutcher, as both seemed out of it for me. The funny part is that Bryce Robinson is a child actor, that itself so impressed me I found myself smiling every time he was on the screen.

The movie featured a large ensemble cast that included Jessica Alba, Kathy Bates, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper, Eric Dane, Patrick Dempsey, Hector Elizondo, Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner, Topher Grace, Anne Hathaway, Ashton Kutcher, Queen Latifah, Taylor Lautner, George Lopez, Shirley MacLaine, Emma Roberts, Julia Roberts and Taylor Swift.

The movie is simple and the plot is not overly complex just the element of surprise here and there, and then in some other tales the whole surprise does not exist as the tale looked too familiar to even matter, but all in all I loved many of the tales.

The movie plot focuses on what is happening in the lives of many of the above listed actors on Valentine's Day, some of them are facing lack of love, others are discovering love and there is some heartbreak.

The movie was received with negative reviews, but in the teen choice award it was voted best romantic film. Also Gary Marshall's movie was a box office success making over 4 times its $52 million production cost. I really enjoyed this movie and its New Year's Eve counterpart done in 2011. The whole idea of pulling out the best of a huge ensemble cast is one thing I give credit to the director for, everyone had enough screen time and no one was over used. Alba on the other hand in the short time she had on the screen seemed like she wanted to be in another movie.

In conclusion, if you are into romantic comedies or a helpless romantic then this is a movie for you, and although the critics say it isn't good I beg to differ it is that good.

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Starts in the path of mediocrity, takes you down the valley of stupidity, makes you think there is more to this disjointed story, and then fools you to believe the cast is more than it seems; then when you think you have had enough, it drops you down the hole of impossibility and leaves you with one question… "Could this movie be any worse?" Sadly it was. Here is a sorry excuse for a movie based on the Hasbro's toy series "The G.I Joe", I actually felt the first G.I Joe movie The Rise of Cobra was over rated, but then I see this one and I think the first should have been given more respect than it got. The acting was crappy the disjointed stories felt like they will never meet and when they finally do, I ended up wishing they didn't. Bruce Willis is in this movie for a reason I don't quite understand, and then Dwayne Johnson is also added, all this to me is just to boost sales. I'm saying the truth don't let the posters fool you Bruce Willis had little to nothing to do in this film.

Some of the old cast members from the first movie were called back; they include Channing Tatum, Arnold Vosloo, Ray Park, Jonathan Pryce, and Lee Byung-hun all reprising their roles from the first film.

The brief summary of the plot has our Joes up against their old enemy Cobra but this time he seems to be smarter Cobra found a way (while imprisoned) to infiltrate the United States presidency. He did this by having the president kidnapped and replacing him with Zartan. Now Zartan is now the new president of the United Utates and he ordered an air strike to kill off the Joes. After major casualties only Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson), Lady Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) and Flint (D.J. Cotrona) survived and they decided to get their revenge.

Meanwhile the Arashikage clan sent Snake Eyes (Ray Park) to go capture the renegade Storm Shadow (Lee Byung-hun) to answer for the death of his uncle.

Somehow these two stories intertwine and at the end the good guys win, nothing special about that.

This movie is just full of fast paced action scenes that don't leave behind enough juice for you to value them (there is no lasting impression).

If you have enough spare time in your hands, I advise you catch up on some sleep and forget seeing this movie www.lagsreviews.com

The Animatrix is meant to be a bridge between what we don't know about the war between humans and machines and what we know as The Matrix the movie, but in the end I just found it hard to keep awake after the third short film animation in the eight short animation film. By the time of the fourth short animation I was far gone. I woke up rewound the DVD to the fourth and watched it from there down and I just regretted it, because it seemed like God was trying to save me from a mishap and I was stubborn that I want to go through the fire.

The Wachowski brothers are anime fans, so they wrote four of the eight episodes in The Animatrix, which served as The Matrix trilogy back story; the remaining four stories are independent. The brothers came up with the stories while promoting the first movie in Japan and the production and release was done to coincide with the release of the last two matrix film (The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions) in the franchise.

The stories have a high critical rating, but to me they are over rated, this movie is filled with so many lackluster dialogues and monologues and the whole flesh being put on a bony matrix foundation just seemed to me like a marketing strategy to keep fans watching.

To me the sad part about all of this is that the matrix last films (The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions) that it was released along with are just full of effects and no full justification of their purpose. We may desire happy endings and The Matrix Revolutions kind of gave us that, but it came with a price of two tragedies. Here this movie is meant to show the justification of those tragedies, telling us why the human race lost the battle and how the machines even got into the battle in the first place.

My final take is that, all you have to do is see the first matrix, it has all that you need to know, let your imaginations fill up the gaps in between because all this other additions are just a waste of your time.

The characters Neo, Trinity, and Kid also appear in this 8 animation short film package, with their voices provided by their original actors Keanu Reeves, Carrie-Anne Moss and Clayton Watson.

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The Matrix Revolutions is suppose to the climax of this franchise, but in the end it ended up being the worse of the three, the movie actually brought the whole Matrix to an end, but in an anti climax kind of way.

The movie said to have cost close to the same as the second, The Matrix Reloaded but due to (my opinion) the lost of interest due to the fact that the second kind of takes you to a place where you have more questions than answers, you are left wondering what is the whole point, which could be the reason why this last one made like same as the first but like half of the second.

Also out of the three this had the lowest review rating. The movie draws you (well the second movie) to a point and tells you that all this has happened 5 times before now, so there is a possibility that things might not change and the matrix will reset and the war will continue, but this 6th reboot of the matrix is supposed to be different because in this new matrix love is involved. Neo's (Keanu Reeves) love for Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) is supposed to be the difference between "The One" in this sixth matrix reboot and the others and the oracle believes that is all it will take.

The movie focuses more on change and the ability to trust yourself more than what is going on around you. In the end of the second we saw that Neo's power extends beyond the matrix into the real world. In the end of The Matrix Reloaded Neo fell into a coma because he used his power too soon in the real world and he got stuck in a place between the matrix and the real world.

The movie carries on for a long time keeping you at the edge of your sit, with Neo going up to face the source, Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) has practically taking over the matrix and the machines are closing in on Zion so for a long time you are kept at the edge of your sit as you eagerly wait to see how it will all play out in the end.

The visual effects here is not as captivating as it was in the second because it seems recycled, but there is one thing that is very captivating in the movie is the driving of Niobe (Jada Pinkett Smith) although you know it is all visual effect and CGI but they made it very high tense.

So at the end of the second and may not want to carry on (because I didn't), but I guess there is no point why not just finish it.

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I always find myself laughing hard while watching this film, because the scenes, acting and the martial art so tripped me that I just have to give this movie the respect it deserves as a nice buddy cop movie that all should see. The movie does a brief introduction of all the leads and then the movie's pace picks up and the speed at which it carries on is one that is so impressive that I myself never believed it could keep up, but it did. Brett Ratner the director was on top of the situation and the blend of Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan was masterful.

The story/plot that the movie is based is one that you can point out the holes, some of the situations that these two were able to get out of were eyebrow raising, not to mention how both manage not to get killed is one thing that you must try to overlook as watch, because that is only how you can truly enjoy this movie.

The movie starts in Hong Kong, when Inspector Lee (Jackie Chan) was able to recover some priceless historical treasures. After the recovery the Chinese Consul Solon Han moved to America and while there, his daughter got kidnapped by a known Hong Kong crime lord Juntao. The Chinese Consul asked for Inspector Lee to come and aid the FBI in the investigations and recover of his daughter.

Detective James Carter (Chris Tucker) is a LAPD cop that finds it hard to just do anything right, so in form of a punishment his captain loan him to the FBI to be a babysitter to Lee and keep him out of their way. But selfish Carter wants to solve the crime and so does Lee so together both, did all they could to recover the Chinese Consul's daughter.

Much of what they did seemed like they were moving 1 step forward and 2 steps back, but in the end it all paid off.

Rush Hour 1 was a hit and it was well received. The combination of both actors (Chan and Tucker), made the news as all loved the mix, and at the very end made the movie a box office hit.

Later on, two other sequels were made with Chan and Carter reprising their roles respectively as Inspector Lee and Detective Carter and we get to see them take on other crime lords and cause major chaos where ever they go. Rush Hour is a fine film from the 90s that even after you watch now, you will still be laughing hard, the movie came out same year that Lethal Weapon 4 was released, which also starred a martial art actor Jet Li. So for me as Lethal Weapon stopped, this two picked up from where it stopped and are keeping the buddy cop flame burning.

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Rush Hour 2 is nowhere as good as Rush Hour 1 but you have to give them A for effort, as they did try to make you love it. Chan and Tucker have a way of keeping you glued as their combination is mouth watering, but after I was done watching this film… I enjoyed seeing the errors than I did seeing the film itself.

Is not that Rush Hour 2 didn't have it's funny parts, because it did, it is just that from the set go you will know that the makers are trying so hard to make something out of nothing. At the end they achieved it all, they got us to go see the movie, got us to remember the movie for some also near death experience that makes you wonder just like in Rush Hour 1 and they somehow manage to create a story regardless of how weak it looked or sounded. Brett Ratner was called back to direct this film that was done 3 years after the first, so the choice is yours, do you think he did a good job? The movie plot stars Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker who respectively reprise their roles as Inspector Lee and Detective Carter. Now this time our duo starts their journey in Hong Kong and then found themselves back on American soil and in Vegas where they are all rolled up together with the secret service to bring down a counterfeit scam involving the Triads.

The production cost for the movie is much higher than that of Rush Hour 1 mostly due to the success of the previous film Chris Tucker demanded a 20 million salary to reprise his role, at the end the movie was worth his pay at the box office. Rush Hour 1 cost $33 million and made $244 million, while this movie cost $90 million and took home $347 million from the box office and made massive cash in the home video sale.

After the huge success of this movie, the production studio called the duo back for another Rush Hour run, although it took them six years to get the crew back together again so the movie was released in 2007.

As I said this movie is nowhere as good as its predecessor, a lot of work and casting went into this one, but the final result didn't show that it cost 3 times more than the first but I will still say it is a fine movie to see.

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Why must Producers milk a cow dry, till a franchise is worth less than a B-Movie? When movie makers decide to over drag a movie it makes you wonder why such a plague has been allowed to continue and no one has even bothered to search out a cure. It is never your place to tell a man what movie he will make or not, but we the fans can help matters by actually airing our views about such.

My stand is that a movie like Rush Hour that pulled out an awesome combination of martial art action and comedy, should have been laid to rest after the release of Rush Hour 2 in 2001, the truth is movies like Mad Max, Die Hard and Lethal Weapon dragged for too long till the last movie made about the lead actor or actors ended up just being a mediocre, (Mad Max 3, Die Hard 5 and Lethal Weapon 4).

Moving forward, the first Rush Hour was a form of a classic it pulled the stops and made sure that you the viewer will be laughing all the way to the bank, the second was just bull and watching the errors that the actors made during filming was more interesting to see than the movie itself. The worse thing about this movie I can remember is Zhang Jingchu who portrays Soo-Yung Ambassador Solon Han daughter, she was the worst thing to be seen on TV as she doesn't even have an idea what it means to be a convincing actor.

Now the script is where the high jump bar lays, and how this movie failed to scale it, an assassination attempt by the Triads was on Ambassador Solon Han and Lee (Jackie Chan) was present at the shooting and he chased the culprit to the street till he finally caught with him only to discover it is a childhood friend.

Chris Tucker was annoying this flick, and Jackie Chan was just not in form, making both look like they were forced to take the roles we are seeing them in. I don't get…? After such a bad performance, anybody will think the producers will now kill the franchise, but that is not to be as talks are circling around that a Rush Hour 4 can be done soon. I guess cash is now the motivation why this franchise is being continued; because as of now i have lost any interest I may have had to see a new Rush Hour.

My conclusion is that, see Rush Hour 1 and 2, then stop this is nowhere worth viewing.

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Shanghai Noon is one soft comedy that I just found myself loving, the movie pulls out a very nice romantic soft comedy that you will just go crazy for. Shanghai Noon has a nice pairing maybe the pairing is not as great as the one in Rush Hour but Owen Wilson style of comedy is one that I have come to love and appreciate.

Owen Wilson's style is a laid back demeanor, and that of Jackie is one of comic martial art and scenes the mix is just unique. The movie can be seen to be of a form of a buddy cop genre.

The movie paid homage to some nice western classics, like High Noon and Jackie Chan's character is named Chon Wang meant to sound like John Wayne. Also to love in the movie is the unusual suspense, the movie possess its own way of thrill, which include leaving you the viewer to really think: One of the things that I liked and is part of the suspense is the idea that Owen's Character Roy is the worse gunslinger around (this guy can't shoot straight to save his life), and somehow he has managed to survive in the west and even be the leader of an armed robbery gang. The second thing that got me thinking is also about the Roy character that was buried to his neck in the desert and somehow managed to get out from there and get to the nearest town before Jackie who was going on foot and a horse. Although when asked how he did it, he claimed to have dug himself out with chopsticks.

The movie plot crosses across two regions, China and the US, in China Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) is an imperial guard and he has his eyes for the princess Pei-Pei (Lucy Liu), who got abducted and taken to America. Wang's affection for the princess made him join the Imperial Guards sent to bring back Pei-Pei, a ransom in gold was also sent by the king to Pei-Pei's captive. When in America in the west the train that they were in gets robbed and by Roy (Owen Wilson) and his crew and that is how Wang and Roy met.

The two later joined together in an attempt to rescue the princess from her captive.

The combination of the two was well received by many critics, which led to the movie having a huge sale in DVD's, and the movie itself was also a box office success.

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Shanghai Noon (2000) gradually becomes Shanghai Knight, with both actors from the previous movie reprising their role as Chon Wang (Jackie Chan) and Roy (Owen Wilson). The movie is not as good as the first, but it is surprisingly interesting funny and captivating. This time the makers also went as far as bringing into the plot this time much more familiar themes that we are more used too, we have in the plot this time a boy who winds up being Charlie Chaplin, the detective in the film ended up being Sir Arthur Conan Doyle who goes on to write the Sherlock Holmes mysteries, and according to the movie the name Sherlock Holmes is a made up name by Roy.

The movie plot is about our dynamic duo from the first movie, only this time their adventure takes them to England. The movie starts with the death of Wang's (Jackie) father who was a guard of the royal diamond seal which was stolen. Wang's father while dying told his daughter Chon Lin (Fann Wong) to retrieve the stolen seal and also deliver a puzzle box to her brother.

Now Wang her brother had become a Sheriff in Nevada, and when he got the message about his father's death and the seal stolen away to England, he searched for Roy to get some money to travel to England. Roy on the other hand had lost all their gold that they got in the first film to gambling and daft investments. So now together with Wang's sister Lin, they have to retrieve the diamond and have it return back to china.

Many more homages were made in this film that I will like to mention: 1. The name of the villain also was tagged "the finest swordsman in England," which is a tribute to Basil Rathbone, who is known for his swordsmanship and always seem to be better than his counterparts in his movies but always holds back because the hero has to win. Also Rathbone played Sherlock Holmes in the 1930s to the 1940s series.

2. Also in the movie we get to see Jackie Chan pay homage to the Rush Hour movie where Jackie distracts the guards by using Chinese vases.

3. When knocking on Conan Doyle's door, the clothes that Roy and Wang are wearing are exactly the same dress that Holmes and Watson wore in Conan Doyle's stories.

The movie did fairly in the box office but it was a massive hit in Pakistan, where the movie was dubbed in Punjabi and several millions copies of the movie's DVD and VCD sales were great, and so making the producers to also make Shanghai Noon also in Punjabi.

This movie is a nice watch one that you will like seeing, and I enjoin you that you do.

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The Matrix Reloaded was like the valley in high hills of The Matrix (1999). Done in 2003 the Wachowski brothers focused more on the graphics than the cast. Also the story just brought more questions than answers, making sure that at the end you will either want to see what is remaining of this series or you will not.

The Matrix Reloaded is not so story oriented like the first, what drew many to the cinema to watch this movie (especially me) was the "Burly Brawl" where Neo had to fight like 100 Agent Smiths. This brawl featured high tech visual effects, higher than the one used in the previous film. The "Bullet Time" technology was set aside and virtual cameras were used to capture some of the effects and complex fight moves that we saw displayed in the "Burly Brawl".

Now, these exceptionally high visual effects is what makes this movie standout from the rest and the complexity of the action scenes makes every action sequence and fight sequence worth seeing.

The other part of the movie which included the story writing was a low from my view; the character development that we saw in the first is set aside here to focus more on the action scenes and the visual effects.

The movie plot continues from where the first Matrix stopped, now that Neo (Keanu Reeves) realizes that he is "The One" he has many things that he once knew and believed has changed, also changing was the believe of the people in Zion about him, many that doubted saw the things he can do and they too became believers of the prophesy.

But many still doubted, now the machines are closing in on Zion and in The Matrix the source is losing control as the program Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) that Neo killed in the first film, has returned this time as a virus infecting other programs and taking over the matrix.

Now Neo is faced with the sole fact, he must seek out the source and see if he can bring this war to an end and he must stop Agent Smith.

The box office performance of this movie is higher than what the first movie in the franchise brought in. This movie also cost like 2 times more than the first and took home almost two times as much as the first movie did.

As I said the story here is not the main drive for me when it comes to this movie, but the effect is exceptional, one that I'm sure you will not mind seeing, so after you have digested The Matrix (1999), you will not mind seeing this one The Matrix Reloaded.

Fun fact from Wikipedia says: "Around 97% of the materials from the sets of the film were recycled after production was completed; for example, tons of wood were sent to Mexico to build low-income housing." www.lagsreviews.com