Reviews

From the minute I saw the trailer back the summer for Iron Man, I was one of the few people that said that it was not going to be a good movie. People kept saying that I was crazy and that Iron Man was going to be the best movie of the summer blah blah blah. Well, I have just got back from seeing Iron Man and I can honestly say that it was better than I expected, but not by much.

I believe that mostly everybody knows the story so I will save myself the trouble of giving a plot synopsis. But, in short, Tony Stark (played greatly by Robert Downey Jr.) is captured after being attacked by a group of violent Middle Eastern fighters. When he comes to the realization that the weapons used to capture him and kill the other American soldiers were weapons from his cooperation, he realizes that he has had his eyes closed the entire time and has finally opened them to see the evils behind his family business.

Now this is probably the first comic book adaptation to have a very credible cast, and that goes to show that big names don't always make the best movies. The only rightfully cast actor in this entire film is Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark. He plays it as if he is playing himself and fits perfectly into the character of Stark. Terrence Howard is second billed but his character is thrown around and pops up pretty randomly throughout the film. Gwyenth Paltrow is in probably a good 3/4 of the film and is annoying every time she appears on screen. Plus, her name is Pepper Potts. If that were my name, I would probably kill myself. Finally, the worst casting possible, Jeff Bridges as Obidiah Stane, the villain. Not only is his name a killer, but Bridges' acting is some of the worst I have seen in years. He does not fit into the roll at all and the bald cap that is used to try and replicate his character from the comics just makes Bridges look like a fool and he eventually becomes the laughing stock of the entire film. Also, whenever he was on screen about to give a speech I was just waiting for him to say, "I'm the Dude." I went to see this film with a group of 15 friends and I can bet you that every single one of those friends came to see Iron Man because they expected an action movie. Well, I can say that about 3 of those 15 said that they enjoyed the film and the remaining 12 complained that there wasn't enough action. Now I am not saying that I am disappointed with the amount of action that is in the film, I am saying that the action that was included in the film was not only dull, but terribly boring. In truth, the best scenes in the film were the cheesy comedic scenes, or the scenes where Stark is testing the parts of his suits. It just goes to show that director Jon Favreau is much better with comedies (Elf, Swingers) since the action in an action-superhero movie was worse than the comedic parts.

All in all, Iron Man is not a bad movie but nor is it a good movie. It is just another film; another hugely anticipated popcorn movie that will go on to earn hundreds of millions of dollars. Just like the last Spiderman, 90% of the people that view Iron Man may come out hating it, but this will definitely be one of the highest grossing movies of the year just because of all the publicity and the audience appeal. The film is not nearly as good as Spiderman or Spiderman 2, X-2, or Batman Begins but is definitely better than Hulk and Daredevil. Therefore, that throws Iron Man right into the middle of the Marvel film package, and due to the cliffhanger ending (stay till the end of the credits) there will definitely be an Iron Man 2 on the way. And whether that one proves to be better than this one, that won't truly be saying much.

For those who have constantly complained about ol' Sly Stallone returning to write and direct another installment in his two biggest franchises, Rocky and Rambo, you can stop your complaining now. Maybe you were disappointed in December 2006 when Rocky Balboa was released and ended up being as bad as everyone expected. However, it is the not the same with Stallone's newest Rambo. Despite the negative reviews and the harsh feedback, Rambo is exactly what an action movie is. During it's 93 minute duration, an estimated 276 persons are killed in a wide variety of ways: from machete, to .50 cal, to bow and arrow, to claymore, to flamethrower, to mortar, etc.

The film starts with a brief rundown of the recent violent history of Burma, projecting horribly gruesome images of burned, decapitated, and mutilated humans. Shortly after, a scene is shown in which captured natives are forced to make their way across a marsh where landmines are hidden. Two minutes later, the opening credits project the unforgettable 80s font that display the title, Rambo. We find our hero, John, living the simple life in Vietnam helping natives and doing what he can. When a group of Americans on a mission from their church request Rambo's help traveling up river to Burma, Rambo at first refuses telling the group it is a violent and dangerous war zone. The churchgoers continue to plead for Rambo's help until he finally, resentfully, gives in. During their voyage, the group runs into some violent military patrolmen. This is where we get the first glimpse of Rambo's abilities in this newest installment. When the zealots say they still want to continue north, Rambo continues the journey and lets them off at the edge of the village. When Rambo believes them to be safely doing their job, he hears news that something went wrong and the religious group has gone missing. Rambo, now, has thrown himself into a gruesome mission to find the missing and unleash graphic terror onto their captors. The next 40 minutes consist of the deaths I listed prior.

First off, ignore my rating. Adding everything into the equation (acting, directing, editing, script, etc.) the film would average out to about a 7. However, I did not go into this movie awaiting a genius plot or an Oscar winning screenplay (I mean Stallone did write the movie). I went in awaiting multiple explosions and nonstop action. Believe me, my money was not wasted. Rambo is exactly what an action movie should be. This is the model action movie: average duration, R rating, graphic carnage, a veteran actor, simple plot, terrible script. The film is truly not as bad as the critics say it is. My advice, do not miss this movie rather it be in theaters or on DVD. Rambo is extremely entertaining and well worth the time. You will probably even find many humorous moments as well.

A star lineup lends their voices to the eye popping, noirish cop thriller, "Renaissance." A futuristic film that spends too much time on the visual piece rather than the story piece.

The year is 2054, Paris, where a talented young scientist named Ilona Tasuiev (Romola Garai) is kidnapped causing much commotion and panic for the regeneration company she works for, Avalon. Captain Karas (Daniel Craig) is leads the case to find Ilona. As Karas creeps farther into this labyrinth known as Paris, he finds information that he himself doesn't even want to know involving disastrous events linking to Avalon and its CEO, Paul Dellenbach (Jonathan Pryce) in the year 2006. With help from Ilona's sister, Bislane (Catherine McCormack) and Dr. Jonas Muller (Ian Holm) Karas slowly finds his way out of confusion only to find himself in a tangled web of violence and mayhem.

It's an interesting story, yes, but the story is not really the reason anyone would see this movie. Its for the visual piece. Visually, "Renaissance" is spectacular, filmed in a "Sin Cityish" way with a black-and-white animated feature with extreme contrasts giving it and eerier, noirish touch which makes the film that much better to watch. However, the animation can't account for everything, and isn't even perfect itself (many movements of the mouth and body seem robotic or delayed to an extent). As a movie, "Renaisance" is nothing new. Adding cheap thrills including shootouts and car chases to keep the audience locked for it's 1hr. and 45 mins. duration. Beyond that, "Renaissance" tries to hard to become a true noir film adding twists and turns at every corner throwing the film in a new direction, and by the end it's completely lost itself and the audience in a web of confusion it created.

Visually, "Renaissance" scores a 10, on everything else that counts, much lower. Averaged out, it comes out to just an O.K. film barely worth a recommendation. Personally, I would like to see more films made in this animated/contrast form, only I hope that the next time they use it, they have a better story to go along with it.

David Cronenberg's film about a man (Viggo Mortenson) who saves his wife and co-workers from murderous criminals in a brutal fight in his restaurant, is awarded the title of town hero. Tom Stall (the hero's name) gets uncontrollable business boost as a result. During the morning rush, three men dressed in black sit at the bar called Tom by Joey Cusack. Tom repeatedly tells the trio that his name is Tom, not Joey. However, the crew's leader, Carl Faugerty (Ed Harris), knows that this "Tom Stall" is not who he says he is. Faugerty is so determined to weed out this Joey Cusack, that he even follows Tom back to his house multiple times. After a brutal shootout on Tom's front lawn, Tom's wife, Edie (Maria Bello) begins to wonder if Tom isn't all he claims to be.

Despite having an interesting first half, and being extremely entertaining throughout, this was a huge disappointment. After seeing the previews for this film, I was anticipating this film for the longest time. When I finally saw it, I was surprised that it wasn't very good.

The story is intriguing, but after the first half, it starts getting very far-fetched and ridiculous. Just graphic brutal, over-the-top violence is the only element this film weighs itself on. It tries to hard to be good that if it just was made as a regular movie, it could have been much better.

As for acting, Viggo Mortenson was the completely wrong choice. After watching this film, there is no way you can even believe that this is the same guy who played Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings series. Maria Bello is top notch and definitely should have been nominated for Best Actress (or supporting Actress) in 2005. Ed Harris is also very enjoyable during his scenes. AS for William Hurt (who was nominated for Best Supporting Actor) was completely awful. He is in the film for a max of 10 minutes and does absolutely nothing.

As for the movie, it is enjoyable but not all its hyped up to be. I was very disappointed and I believe anyone else who watches this film will feel the same way.

The 1970s are very well known for movies that scared audiences out of their mind. Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange" startled audiences with a sophisticated kind of imprisonment whose purpose was to cure when really it could have been used in the next "Hostel." "The Poseidon Adventure" and "The Towering Inferno" frightened audiences with the realization that there is barely escape when in a burning building or a sinking cruise liner. Finally "The Exorcist" did the worst, in short, it made every viewer sleep with their light on for the rest of their life. The decade closed off with another sci-fi horror classic, "Alien."

"Alien" is the story of a spaceship crew who is awakened from chronological sleep to investigate a distress signal from a distant planet. After a bad landing, the crew of seven sends a crew of three out onto the surface to investigate. When one crew member, Kane (John Hurt) is lowered into a derelict ship, he is attacked by an alien being that clings to his face. Meanwhile, crew member Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) translates the supposed distress signal into a warning, however, they do not understand why it would be a warning until it's too late. An Alien being is now loose on the ship.

The crew is now faced with a challenge, a loose killer Alien on the ship. They must keep together to stay and alive and make themselves kill or be killed.

Known as a sci-fi horror classic, "Alien" isn't all that it's worked up to be. Being in every book of movies that are "must-sees" and #51 on the Top 250 would peak anyone's interest, but i can assure you, it's nothing special, just another sci-fi movie.

If you want to see a good, classic Sci-fi movie, you'd have a better chance watching the original Star Wars trilogy again or even "Starship Troopers." "Alien" is nothing more than an entertaining movie. With decent acting, mediocre plot, good directing, and a forgettable twist. I can say that I can only give it an 8 marking it solely on directing and entertainment. If I rated it solely on plot and conflict, it would be 5/10. I'm sorry for anyone that did really enjoy this movie.

Yo might think that you forget things often. Maybe you forget a pencil for school, a binder for work, or your car keys when you walk to your car. What if that happened everyday? What if you could never remember anything new? What if you could never remember anything after a certain point in your life? This is how Leonard Shelby feels.

"Memento" tells the story of Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce), who was faced with a terrible incident a a few years back which resulted in his wife's death and his ability to make new, recent memories completely demolished. He does not know for how long, but Leonard has been looking for his wife's killer, a man that he has only seen with a mask over his face. Leonard doesn't know if he has ever killed the man already or he is still looking for him since he can't remember anything new for more than 5 minutes.

To make sure he remembers new, important info, Leonard gets many tattoos all over his body. He believes that writing notes when he has such a severe condition like this would make him very confused, therefore, tattoos make more sense since he sees them everyday. Some of these tattoos say, "John G did it" or "Your wife is dead." All of this, just to remember what he has to do daily.

The sad part is, Leonard might find this killer. He might have known him forever. But if he ever comes face to face with him, before having seen his tattoos, he won't know what to do since he doesn't know why he is looking or what happened to his wife.

"Memento" has a very disturbing element to it that is very creative on the Nolan brothers' part. Collaborative writing has never worked out so good and single credit directing...they might be the next Coen brothers.

At this point, the Nolan's had only mad one film prior, 1998's "Following" and have since this made "Insomnia," "Batman Begins," and "The Prestige," all great, full-of-twists thrillers.

Their best film definitely is "Memento" with it's edge of your seat thrills, camera angles, and great acting. The best part of the film is that it's told in reverse and forwards so you get a sense of what Leonard goes through since you have to remember what happened before and why it connects to what's happening now.

Guy Pearce, Carrie-Ann Moss, and Joe Pantaliano could not have been more perfectly cast as the title characters. Guy Pearce as Leonard, the star, Carrie-Ann Moss, as Natalie, a woman who helps Leonard with his problem since she, like him, has also lost someone close to her. And Joe Pantaliano stars as Teddy, whose identity never seems to be certain throughout the film.

"Memento" is a definite must-see. It has no flaws whatsoever and should be viewed before anyone's death. It is one of my personal favorite movies and I have yet to meet anyone who hates this film. Trust me, you will not be disappointed.

When you wake up alone, you feel the sensation of fear. But when you step outside to find your city trashed with no one around except for flesh eating monsters. You begin to feel terror.

"28 Days Later.." is the story of Jim (Cillian Murphy). A man who wakes up from his coma 28 days after a terrible virus was accidentally unleashed on Great Britain. The virus is very contagious and just the slightest bit of infected blood can infect you and within 10 seconds after the blood is in your body, you lose control. The virus enhances rage and all the infected are in a permanent state of rage running at incredible speeds after anyone they see.

Jim wakes up to find the streets of Britain deserted and it wasn't till he was chased down the streets by infected that he realized what had happened. Jim then meets Selena (Naomie Harris), a survivor who helps Jim to safety. Then, Jim and Selena come across Frank (Brendan Gleeson) and his daughter, Hannah (Megan Burns). Frank says that he has been listening to his little radio constantly since the outbreak and reports of the virus having spread to Paris and NY. Frank also says he has heard broadcasted ads that the military are taking in all non-infected people and that meeting them at a certain point will ensure their safety.

The rest of the film chronicles the group's travels to the military base and what happens there after. The film's main moral comes into perspective towards the end of the film where safety isn't always what you think and how in desperate situations like this, humans will do anything to satisfy themselves.

Not very scary, but very horrific makes "28 Days Later..." one of the best horrifying films to date. With outstanding acting and twists and turns along the way. It is not a phony horror movie like "The Ring" or "The Grudge" but rather a full speed, high adrenaline horror film that always keeps you interested and never bores. "28 Days Later..." is a must see.

If you have never watched a Robert Rodriguez or Quentin Tarantino movie you are truly missing out on some of the best movies in cinematic history. Robert Rodriguez having been the creator of the famed Mexico Trilogy and 2005's cinematic acclaim, Sin City team up with legendary director Quentin Tarantino (creator of Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and the Kill Bill) to recreate the 70s experience of a Grindhouse.

A Grindhouse theater/movie was a theater that showed nonstop movies containing graphic violence, explicit sexuality, and much more mature thematic material. This idea, being what all of the Rodriguez and Tarantino movies are all about, was not hard to recreate for the duo, and in the process, they have created one of the best motion pictures of all time.

Giving Grindhouse a 9/10 gives me the complete right to rave about it. The film runs clear over 3 hours with two full length movies, one directed by each. Rodriguez's film runs first (Planet Terror) starring Freddy Rodriguez, Rose McGowen, Marley Shelton, Josh Brolin, and Michael Biehn as different people living in a small Texas town that unfortunately gets taken over by brain eating zombies. Planet Terror (even though only being half of the full movie) is probably one of the best movies I have ever seen. Bruce Willis and Naveen Andrews co-star.

Tarantino's segment follows shortly after (Death Proff) starring Kurt Russel as Stuntman Mike, a serial killer, who uses his stunt car as his weapon and kills 20-something girls. Yes it's sick, but it's Tarantino. The doomed girls include: Sydney Tamiia Poitier (son of "Mr. Tibbs) Rosario Dawson, Zoe Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Tracie Thoms (just to name a few). The unfortunate part of this segment is that it starts off very slow with uncreative, very repetitive dialogue about nothing that soon puts you to sleep, only to be awoken by an extremely graphic car crash. The segment (and the film) however, ends with a bang with one of the best final 20 mins, chase sequence, car scene, etc. in the past 100+ years of film.

Being a Rodriguez/Tarantino double feature you can basically fill in the blanks and no what to expect: violence, gore, language, and sex. Besides having two outstanding story lines and great acting, the film takes violence and gore to a new level making it symbolic and artistic. That right there, brings the film up. As the film comes to an end, the closing almost allows you to forget about the opening of Tarantino's part, but still, you can't. Therefore, 9/10

"The Condemned" has a very straightforward plot. It tells the story of John Conrad (Stone Cold Steve Austin) who is purchased from a Central American prison. The buyer is a TV producer named Ian Breckel who has purchased 9 others just like Conrad; mass murders who are awaiting death penalties in their respective prisons. Breckel has the idea to transport these 10 "contestants" to an island near New Guinea where they will fight to the death, the last remaining person after 30 hours will be set free. But there are catches, all contestants have an ankle brace that carries multiple C4 bombs that will explode if the tag is pulled out or if the 30 hour time limit is up and not 9 other contestants are dead.

That might sound entertaining, and it is. The film is filled with brutal violence that you can't feel guilty about. Another positive is that it doesn't try to become smart, it stays at it's level and never drifts away from it's unoriginal plot. The last positive is, surprisingly,Steve Austin is not half bad as the star. Despite being a wrestler with no movie talent, he says as much dialogue as Clint Eastwood in "Dirty Harry" and the majority of his time on screen is him fighting other opponents. I can also say he is much better than John Cena in "The Marine." Unfortunately, there are undeniable negatives. Including the entertaining violence getting uncontrollably repetitive, the abrupt ending, and the everything that happens outside of the violence. Whenever the film cuts to the audience or the people running the show, the film slows down. (That is the perfect time to go to the bathroom).

If you were going to see this film, wait till DVD. It may look interesting, but it's not. It just keeps rambling on with violence and gore and the film never goes higher than an ATTEMPT to make a decent film. When the film begins, the WWE films logo comes up and that right there brings it down a few notches, and the negative elements don't help it's cause.

6/10

This movie is exciting and fun from beginning to end. Robert and Frank really knew who would be the real characters from the moment they saw them. I enjoyed this movie and goes down in my book as either the best or one of the best movies that I have seen in my whole life. I recommend it to whoever reads this or encounters me in their life. I is great and you'll want to watch it over and over again. Just be warned if you are squeamish or don't like gore and violence, be strongly cautioned because this is a very gory and violent movie. This movie is without a doubt a 10 rating and I can't wait for the DVD I'll buy it the first day it's out.