ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER

I wanted to love ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER but left the theater just thinking it was okay. The film would have worked a lot better for me if the filmmakers went with a more B-movie approach. The vampire action is great but feels very few and far between with the historical drama going on. Director Timur Bekmambetov (NIGHT WATCH, WANTED) utilizes a lot his trademark slow motion for action scenes which mostly work to excellent advantage in his other films but here it just seems overused to complement the 3D.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER is the reconstructed true life story of Mr. Lincoln revealing a secret history about him moonlighting as a vampire hunter. When he was a young boy Lincoln witnessed the life of his mother taken away by a vampire. From that day forward he vowed vengeance on bloodsucking creatures of the night. After years of searching and formulating a plan clouded by hate, his encounter with the vampire goes awry. It is here that we meet vampire hunter and future mentor Henry Sturgess. Henry tells Lincoln about the secret society of vampires that are quickly infesting the south. After some easy convincing and Axe wielding training , Lincoln is ready to kill some vampire butt.

Whenever Abraham Lincoln is not killing vampires he works at a general store studying to become a lawyer. He also meets his future wife Mary Todd and has a few debates with Stephen Douglas. With a normal life interrupting his slayer skills Lincoln wants the vampire responsible for his mothers death then he is done. Wish granted but not without getting the attention of Adam the apparent leader of the vampires. Retired from the Axe wielding business and now President of the United States of America Lincoln would like nothing better to do than put his vampire slaying behind him but Adam reminds him that you better finish what you started.

Like I said earlier this movie really didn't do anything for me. It felt too History Chanel mixed in with vampire lore for me. My expectations were for something a little more Sam Raimi-ish in tone especially with Tim Burton producing. It's sort of his trademark I know but director Timur Bekmambetov went way overboard with the slo-mo action scenes.

What may win me over however is the performances. I really dug the actor playing Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Walker did a fine job. I thought the story arc with the character was very convincing. Dominic Cooper as the vampire hunter Henry Sturgess was a performance I enjoyed and wanted more of. The lovely Mary Elizabeth Winstead (who is always easy on the eyes) gave a nice and elegant portrayal of Mary Todd. The rest of the cast just kinda fell flat.

I do like director Timur Bekmambetov and await his next film so in that respect ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER may grow on me? Until then I can only give this the recommendation of a rental if you like the altered history genre or vampire genre.

TED

One of the funniest movies I've seen this year. TED is the new comedy from Seth McFarlane creator of FAMILY GUY and AMERICAN DAD. Being the hardcore THE SIMPSONS fan that I am when FAMILY GUY first aired I could've cared less which is sad because I could have been laughing years ago. It wasn't until FAMILY GUY did the Star Wars spoof BLUE HARVEST that I started watching the show on a regular basis. I was instantly a fan of Seth McFarlane's sense of humor. When it was announced Mcfarlane was going to do a feature film I could not wait.

TED really knocked it out the ballpark for me. I laughed practically every minute and I really liked the story.

Mark Wahlberg plays John who as a kid growing up never really had any friends. One Christmas John gets a teddy bear and it instantly becomes his favorite toy. John makes a wish that his new friend could actually become real so that way they can be best friends for real. The wish comes true and they have been best buds ever since.

During their formative years John and Ted are inseparable. Somewhere along the way because of the “magic” that is Ted he becomes somewhat of a celebrity. But just like Jersey Shore and Justin Bieber in 4 years no one will give a rats ass.

Now 35 years old John still has his best bud Ted but also an awesomely hot girlfriend Lori (Mila Kunis, meow). John and Lori have been dating for 4 years and they both are wanting to take the relationship to the next step but John isn't quite ready. John really loves Lori but is he ready to part ways with his best bud Ted?

Giving you a play-by-play of the jokes in the movie wouldn't do them justice in fact you'd probably think this movie sounded terrible and never take a recommendation from me seriously ever again, but most of all it'd be down right rude of me to spoil even one joke.

TED works because it's funny and the laughs just keep coming and coming. McFarlane's humor is edgy but not without charm and that's what I like most about it that it's not being offensive solely for shock value. It's not hard to find a walking, talking, and vulgar teddy bear not charming and funny.

The supporting cast is quite funny in this as well. Joel McHale as Lori's boss is pretty classic. The sub plot of an obsessed crazy father wanting to buy Ted is great too. TED does have the best cameo in a movie since ZOMBIELAND! It's not being kept secret as much as the one in ZOMBIELAND was but I won't ruin it for you.

If you are a fan of Seth Mcfarlane's sense of humor then you'll love TED and I highly recommend it!

KEOMA(1976)

In anticipation for the release of Quentin Tarantino's new film DJANGO UNCHAINED I'm going to be watching and writing a lot of westerns primarily Spaghetti Westerns. With the exception of the super popular one's (THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY) my knowledge of spaghetti westerns is limited. So this should be an interesting endeavor to say the least.

To kick off this series let's start with a film that stars the original Django himself the one the only Franco Nero in KEOMA.

Returning from the Civil War half breed Keoma arrives back to home only to find that his town has gone all to hell. Now a ghost town full of outlaws and a plague outbreak causing panic throughout the territory. It's up to Keoma and his former slave friend George to rid the town of it's sadistic bloodthirsty bandits whom three members just so happen to be Keoma's half brothers.

Director Enzo G. Castellari (1990: BRONX WARRIORS, INGLORIOUS BASTARDS) creates a nice atmosphere in KEOMA with stylistic references to other iconic western films, some interesting symbolism, and most importantly lots of gunfights and violence. I have seen three Castellari films now and I plan to see more but I can finally see why Quentin Tarantino loves the filmmaker.

Franco Nero is a complete bad ass as Keoma! After watching KEOMA I made a note to myself to watch more Franco Nero movies. Franco is just such a cool force to be reckoned with in KEOMA. Spoiler alert! I love the scene where Keoma basically “Hulks-Out” after his adoptive father gets gunned down. Franco just has these eyes of intensity and rage that's just amazing.

Keoma's three half brothers are all amazing in this! Layers in their performances delivering smart and clever twists. The dynamics between Keoma and his brothers is very compelling and touching, I genuinely felt sad for Keoma.

With the exception of the films story and plot kinda getting a little sloppy I highly recommend KEOMA to spaghetti western and action movie fans.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN is a flawed film but I ended up liking it quite a bit. The previews impressed me by how dark and gritty they were presenting the Snow White fairy tale. I normally would pass on something like this but from what I was seeing a lot of it reminded me of the fantasy movies from my youth especially LEGEND. Charlize Theron looking smoldering as the Evil Queen helped my decision too.

It is said that SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN is a closer adaptation to the Grimm fairy tale than Disney's SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS but I wouldn't know or do I care to do research on that matter. I'll just take this new film as a re imagining of the classic fairy tale.

When Snow White was a young girl her mother the Queen passed away leaving it very difficult for her father the King to raise her and a kingdom. One day after battling a mysterious army the king's men discover a beautiful female prisoner. The king immediately falls in love with her and they get married. On their wedding night the newly crowned queen murders her husband, takes the throne, and reveals her true self as the witch and now queen Ravenna.

The evil queen Ravenna is obsessed with vanity and keeps herself beautiful by eating the hearts of birds and sucking the age out of young women. One day her mirror tells her that Snow White is the fairest of them all and the key to becoming immortal is taking her heart. Snow White escapes the clutches of Ravenna and escapes. The evil queen's brother and master tracker the Huntsman are sent to find Snow White and bring her back. The Huntsman feels sympathy for Snow White so he fends of the pursuers and the two team up. They soon gather a nice group (including the dwarfs) to try and overthrow Ravenna and restore the kingdom.

SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN seems off too me. It starts off great as being a real dark and gritty fairy tale. Theron is amazing (at least I thought she was) as the evil queen Ravenna. She goes over the top a few times but overall I liked the performance a lot. Kristen Stewart as Snow White played very well against Charlize Theron's Ravenna.

The excitement of this dark fantasy starts to fall off the rails once our heroes enter the Dark Forest. Just when any fantasy element gets interesting the movie cuts to another scene. In a film filled with eaten bird hearts and soul sucked virgins it seems messed up to have bloodless sword fights in your movie? In fact a lot of the action seems done in a matter-of-fact fashion?

When the dwarfs show up things start to get a little better again. The fairy sanctuary scene ended up being my favorite part of SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN. Probably some of the best fairy tale stuff I've seen in this sequence since LEGEND!

Overall I liked SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN but expected more and I'd bet those expectations ended up on the editing room floor.

MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS

10 years ago SPIDER-MAN changed Hollywood forever. I cannot believe the comic book genre is still holding on strong in 2012! The new blockbuster genre has had three defining moments so far. First being SPIDER-MAN which became the blueprint for most super-hero movies that followed, just look at DAREDEVIL and GHOST RIDER. Then came along Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT the second installment in a new kind of comic book movie that made Batman set in a more realistic reality. This realistic gritty neo-noir approach made a ton of money and set an industry standard that comic book films from now on will be and are to be more dark. The two recent examples being this summers Spider Man reboot THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and next years Superman relaunch THE MAN OF STEEL.

The third defining moment is this years THE AVENGERS. While Nolan deconstructed the genre with BATMAN BEGINS and THE DARK KNIGHT, THE AVENGERS director Joss Whedon reversed that and put “comic books” back into the comic book genre. There are going to be debates for years to come as to which movie is the best comic book movie THE DARK KNIGHT or THE AVENGERS? My answer is THE AVENGERS. I love what Nolan has done with the Batman films; however, I cannot wait for the next trilogy which because of THE AVENGERS success will have our favorite caped crusader back to his roots.

THE AVENGERS has been a cinematic event four years in the making ever since the release of IRON MAN. This was a bold move and had many comic book movie fans like myself worried. Team films like the X-Men franchise have proved successful but bringing together 4 franchises (Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America) to form a team seemed risky and too good to be true especially in Hollywood.

On with the review. THE AVENGERS is the best comic book movie of the past 20 years (probably ever)! In a time of stale, over bloated comic book movies Whedon took a page from the Spielberg and Lucas playbook and breathed some new life into the comic book movie.

This synopsis is going to read as if you already know the story thus far from seeing all the movies leading up to THE AVENGERS. The story begins when Loki comes to Earth seeking revenge against Asgard and his brother Thor. He has the help of an alien race known as the Chitauri to aid him in taking over Earth. In return for a conquered Earth Loki will give his new alien friends a powerful energy source called the Tesseract. The Tesseract is the same energy source Red Skull tried to rule the world with in CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE FIRST AVENGER but failed. S.H.I.E.L.D with the help of Dr. Erik Selvig the physicist you may remember from THOR are running tests on the Tesseract. Loki appears causing some mischief stealing the Tesseract along with the good doctor and a few S.H.I.E.L.D agents. These turn of events brings the situation to something like a threat level 7 which is code for Nick Fury wants to bring in the Avengers. Once all the heroes are brought together they must learn how to work well as a team, return the Tesseract, and bring Loki to justice (Asgard style) all before time runs out or they kill each other, whichever happens first!

This is where the movie really begins to kick butt! The character dynamics are extraordinary and Joss gives every character time to shine. I won't spoil too much but I do wanna mention the scene where Thor, Iron Man, and Captain America all have have a go with each other went down as comic book cinema history in my opinion. And the talk around the water cooler is true, Hulk steals the show! It was too good to be true. That's what this movie is, it's just a bunch of I cannot believe this is happening this should not be happening moments. All my high expectations were met and even over exceeded! All the action is nice and shot where we can see what is going on instead of pesky close-ups with shaky cam action. Director Joss Whedon understands action unlike Micheal Bay who likes to fill up action scenes with so much CGI and explosions it makes his elaborate money shots completely uninteresting to say the least. Micheal Bay is that kid who would play with his Transformers by smashing and mashing them together and call it fighting. Where as Joss Whedon reminds me of how I liked to play with my toys, every thing was set up and staged out. Every G.I Joe or Transformer had a purpose and it's time to shine. Andy at the beginning of TOY STORY 3 is probably the best example I can give.

At a time when I was getting tired of comic book movies THE AVENGERS comes along and proves that the genre isn't finished yet and opened the door for countless opportunities especially considering the Marvel Universe. As for the DC Universe all I can say is that Warner Bros really should start taking notes as to what Marvel Studios is doing instead of THE DARK KNIGHT residuals. Just sayin.

My final thoughts on THE AVENGERS are that it's the best movie of the summer and go see it the first chance you get. If summer movies are your thing then I guarantee you'll be seeing this more than once.

STAR WARS: EPISODE I - THE PHANTOM MENACE 3D Re-Release Thingy

Yes, I broke down and went to see STAR WARS – EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE. Such an unnecessary re-release in my honest opinion. Friends and acquaintances kept asking me all last week about my thoughts on the re-release and the 3D. I told them that the prequels really aren't my thing anymore and as for 3D, I really do not care for the format. For years I quite passionately defended Lucas and his Star Wars Prequels that was until I watched a quite informative and joyfully entertaining film analysis on EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE. The guys at www.redlettermedia.com really helped me with my Star Wars Prequels denial.


Praise and criticism of everything Star Wars is infested all over the Internet so anything I have to say good or bad has already been said before. So I'm not going to go into any sort of detail but rather just tell you my initial thoughts on the movie and 3D re-release in general.


While I do believe (just recently mind you) that EPSIODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE and the rest of the prequels are pointless mindless kids films, I can still find a little bit of nostalgic fun in them. As a lifelong fan of Star Wars I guess I could take the low road and curse George Lucas for all the changes for the worst that he has done to my “childhood” but the man is responsible for a lot of what I love about movies so I can't hate the guy. The best I can do is just graduate from the fandom and move on to bigger and better things.

Like I mentioned earlier, friends and acquaintances asked about my thoughts and if I was going to see the re-release? I told them if they are wanting to see it then the best theater in town might be the new B&B Theater in Ozark/Nixa seeing as they have the “state-of-the-art” 3D digital projection! Seeing as I am one for not taking my own advice I took the lazy and convenience route and went to see the film at the Springfield 11. I don't know who to blame, the theater or the movie itself but the 3D sucked. It was in fact some of the worst 3D conversion I have seen! I want to blame the theater but I have heard from other sources that the 3D did not look very good at other theaters either?




2D converted over to 3D has never really looks that good anyway and studios generally go the cheap route on this process but this is Lucasfilm not to mention a Star Wars picture so why the crappy 3D?
A reliable critic said the pod race scene felt like one of those theme park roller coaster motion rides! At my theater it did not, no sir. I'll find out from some folks I know that watched it at the new theater in Ozark/Nixa if their 3D experience was any better? Even if it was better and that is indeed the theater to experience EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE it's just to late for me to care anymore, and I am perfectly fine with that.

BLUBBERELLA

BLUBBERELLA the latest “comedy” from Uwe Boll makes MEET THE SPARTANS look like BLAZING SADDLES. Seriously! The entire time I was watching this “movie” I actually was wishing I was watching MEET THE SPARTANS, VAMPIRES SUCK, and even STAN HELSING which are actual comedies compared to whatever BLUBBERELLA is!

What is BLUBBERELLA? Your guess is as good as mine? My guess is that Uwe Boll finished filming BLOODRAYNE: THE THIRD REICH twenty-eight days ahead of a thirty day schedule. So with all that spare time and budget Uwe thought it'd be funny to give his producers and financiers the middle finger and make BLUBBERELLA.

This very well may be the worst attempts at comedy in the history of filmmaking! It's so bad that I really want to give Uwe the benefit of doubt and say that he was making this un-watchable film on purpose to really give his hatters something to talk about but I don't thing Uwe is that smart or clever.

Instead of a zany comedy about an obese half human half vampire killing Nazis in WW2 and saving the world from an army of the undead, we have Blubberella cooking, eating, and complaining about her love life. We also get unfunny fat jokes, gay jokes, Holocaust jokes, and just when it couldn't get more tasteless we get white actors in blackface!

I almost shut this movie off but I'm the one that knew better so I wasn't about to let the movie win.

I'll watch the occasional Uwe Boll film for a “it's so bad it's good” laugh every once in awhile like IN THE NAME OF THE KING: A DUNGEON SIEGE TALE. But I will never watch one of his comedies, oops sorry I meant “comedies” ever again.

CHRONICLE

CHRONICLE is a reinvention of the found footage genre or better yet a new sub-genre we can call Point of View footage. I'm actually fine with labeling it as none of these things and just look at it as a fresh and new narrative device in movies.

After encountering a strange glowing object in a deep underground cave high schoolers Andrew, Matt, and Steve discover they have telekinetic powers which allow them to move objects with their mind. After practicing honing these new found skills with juvenile stunts and pranks, the boys realize their power is like a muscle and it's only getting more powerful.

The three of them master the ability but Andrew seems to be the most powerful one. Out of the three I got the impression he was the only one that truly embraced his new found gift. I think this is why he becomes more powerful than his friends but the movie never really explains why? Matt and Steve never take their power for granted per say but to them it's more about being able to do something cool that no one else can do. Andrew on the other hand believes he has become the next step in evolution, a new kind of Apex Predator.

My favorite part of CHRONICLE is when it essentially becomes a live action version of the Japanese anime AKIRA. All the ingredients are here – unbridled power, teenage angst, a bullied life, and a friendship put to the ultimate test as one friend tries to save the other from destroying himself and others. Another thing I enjoyed was how focused the story was on it's characters and how the phenomenal but minimal special effects took a back seat. This is important because when CHRONICLE becomes about blowing stuff up it feels legitimate because we actually care about what's happening between Andrew and Matt.

It was refreshing to see the filmmakers take a unconventional route with the comic book/superhero found footage genre tale. And what a excellent feature film debut from director Josh Trank! If 20th Century Fox is seriously wanting to reboot the Fantastic Four franchise then Josh should be the first guy and the only guy on their list for the job.

TOP 11 OF 2011

Greetings, if you haven't noticed yet I just wanted to make it official that Catch A Flick has returned. I'm going to try and post at least twice a week maybe more. Currently I am working on reviews for DRIVE, CHRONICLE, and THE THING(2011). I haven't decided yet if I want to do a comparison piece with last year's THE THING and the one from 1982? Over the weekend I just discovered some awesome Italian Crime/Mob films from the 70's so expect to see some reviews of those!

Instead of playing catch up with posting new reviews along with my favorites of 2011 I'm just going to give you a list of my top favorites of last year. So in no particular order here are my favorites:

ATTACK THE BLOCK

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

X-MEN - FIRST CLASS

RED STATE

CAPTAIN AMERICA - THE FIRST AVENGER

HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN

MONEYBALL

HUGO

DRIVE

WAR HORSE

RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES

REAL STEEL

REAL STEEL is my personal sleeper hit of last year! Nobody took it seriously, the popular joke was calling it Rock em Sock em Robots. Right out of the gate this movie didn't really seem to stand a chance. But can you really blame us? With Hollywood pumping out kid/family movie garbage like GARFIELD, ALVIN AND THE CHIPMUCKS, THE SMURFS, and TRANSFORMERS 1 – 3 a movie about Rock em Sock em Robots automatically becomes a target for scrutiny. Directed by the guy that gave us NIGHT AT THE MUSSEM doesn't help matters either.

But REAL STEEL delivered. Audiences loved it! I regret not seeing this on opening night. REAL STEEL is the kind of movie you really want to see and should see with an audience so you can share that “feel good movie of the year” unity that truly defines a theatrical experience.

I love the fantasy of REAL STEEL! In the not so distant future humans are swapped out for Robots in the sport of Boxing. This idea has a kind of Japanese Anime vibe to it. I could imagine this as a sub-plot idea in ROBOTECH or something. The production design and CGI of REAL STEEL is top notch. It's very believable that this could be our not to distant future and the robots of REAL STEEL look like something that could actually be built. Unlike another series of robot films where characters are just auto parts thrown together resembling mobile auto scrapyards.

The story of REAL STEEL is the ROCKY franchise, THE CHAMP, and OVER THE TOP all put into a blender and set on puree. A struggling promoter feels he has found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top Charlie Kenton discovers he has an 11 year old son who wants to know his father.

I normally hate and cannot stand most child acting (GROWN UPS I'm look at you) but Dakota Goyo and Hugh Jackman really end up playing well off of each other and become very believable in the father and son relationship. REAL STEEL every now and then becomes the “Boy and his Robot” movie but never lingers on it very long to become sappy and annoying.

Director Shawn Levy really put himself on the map for me and I am very interested what his next movie will be just as long as it's not NIGHT AT THE MUSSUM 3.

CHILLERAMA

CHILLERAMA – It's closing night at the last drive-in theater in America and the owner has planned the ultimate marathon of lost film prints to unleash on his faithful cinephile patrons. Four films so rare that they have never been viewed publicly on American soil until this very night! What could possibly go wrong? That's what the back of the blu-ray read. Sounds awesome doesn't it! Well despite having some really great moments CHILLERAMA sucked!

Within the annals of exploitation and b-movie history is Troma Entertainment the leader of tasteless cinema. To my misfortune CHILLERAMA pays tribute to the kings of trash. Most exploitation films are trashy but Troma always sunk to a level of debauchery either fit for a junior high schooler or that would test your moral fiber. It all boils down to taste and I am not a fan.

Much like CREEPSHOW, CHILLERAMA is a horror anthology film. So like I said earlier it's the drive-in theaters last night and it'll be a night to remember, or In my case a night I'd like to forget.

WADZILLA – Remember me mentioning Junior High humor? Well here it is in all it's glory. A throwback spoof of 60's drive-in horror films like THE BLOB, WADZILLA is about a giant sperm that eats people and terrorizes the city. Bravo lame-o's! Moving on.

I WAS A TEENAGE WERE-BEAR – A mash-up of 50's and 60's b-movie horror meets beach party movie musical. Ugh, musical really! This was my least favorite segment of CHILLERAMA; but, I did like the over saturated look it had. Great job on looking like a exploitation film from it's time but the story was just silly and tasteless.

THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANKENSTEIN – My favorite among the movies within the movie. Imagine if the Frank family were descendent's of the mad doctor Frankenstein and Anne's famous diary was his journal for creating life from death. This is the sort of tastelessness I can enjoy! Hitler finds the diary and creates a Frankenstein's monster for himself. This truly is the best installment with keen direction from Adam Green. I recommend trying to hunt this down on YouTube or something to see for yourself the brilliance of this spoof.

ZOM B MOVIE – The final movie within the movie climaxes by becoming the final act of CHILLERAMA. Between the segments in CHILLERAMA a sub-plot was formulating with the popcorn becoming contaminated and everybody turning into zombies. It's up to a couple of movie buff love birds to make it out alive. This would have been my favorite segment but that tasteless Junior High humor takes center stage yet again by making the zombies horny and the only way to kill them is to shoot em in the “head”. Just awful I tell you, so dumb and uncreative. I did like how ZOM B MOVIE felt like an homage to one of my favorite Italian horror films from the 80's called DEMONS. It was about a horror movie turning everybody watching it in the theater into a demon like zombie.

I cannot recommend CHILLERAMA it's just too silly and tasteless for me and I'd feel like a jerk if I did.

FAVORITES OF 2011 - RED STATE

Kevin Smith is a filmmaker that's his vocation, but first and foremost he is a passionate movie goer. That is well established in his very first film CLERKS where you have it's two main characters talk about movies and make Star Wars references all day at work.

Comedies have been Kevin's bread and butter for 17 years and now he has something very different to say and share. After hearing about the infamous Westboro cult leader Fred Phelps during a conversation with a friend, Kevin thought to himself that this wacko would make an excellent horror movie villain. RED STATE was born from this idea.

RED STATE takes place somewhere in middle America and centers on a group of high school friends who are wanting to get laid. They respond to a “personal connection” on Craigslist but this invitation of sex has far more sinister plans when the boys are kidnapped by some “fundamentalist” cult followers. This is when the films true star emerges with an eerie but amazing performance by actor Micheal Parks playing Abin Cooper the leader of the Five Points Church. Abin and his followers are a little too Old Testament and down right crazy. Cooper and his followers believe that they are doing God's will (they most definitely are not) by killing off any and all immoral old testament law breaking individuals.

This is really the only true horror element in RED STATE while the rest of the film seems more like a genre mash-up. You've got a little horror, action/thriller, and some satire mixed together. A lot of viewers have mistaken this as Smith unable to find a tone for his film and therefore making it a complete mess. I disagree with this because in my opinion he pulls it off decently. While the shift from horror to a hostage/siege film is sudden and a bit jarring it fits with what is going on with the characters and does not seem one bit strange or distracting. In fact when the film all of a sudden becomes a siege film this transition is some of the best if not the best directing Kevin Smith has ever done.

I'd like to talk about Micheal Parks for a moment who most of you only know (including myself) as the very memorable Sheriff Earl McGraw from KILL BILL, FROM DUSK TIL DAWN, and GRINDHOUSE. He is one of Quentin Tarantino's favorite actors and I find it awesome that Kevin Smith had him in mind while writing the character of Abin Cooper. I am not familiar with Mr. Park's work outside of Sheriff Earl McGraw and Abin Cooper but it does have my interest. Alas another actor that I'm sure Hollywood considers a dinosaur, what a shame.

Giving one of the best performances of 2011 Micheal Parks gives a performance of a lifetime and completely immerses himself in the role of Abin Cooper who gives the devil himself a run for his money. Forget what is nominated or has already won this award season and just watch RED STATE for this reason alone! It is because of this reason that RED STATE was and still is one of my favorites of 2011!

HAYWIRE

HAYWIRE the latest film from Steven Soderbergh is one of his artsy experimental films that essentially is a martial arts exploitation film. Like his other film THE LIMEY Soderbergh gives HAYWIRE the non linear style of storytelling with a flair of late 60's and early 70's style and music.

Steven Soderbergh has said that HAYWIRE is like an exploitation film staring Pam Grier directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Sure I guess? I'll agree with the Pam Grier comment because the star of HAYWIRE Gina Carano retired MMA fighter is indeed bad ass! She's the only redeeming quality of the film and I hope to see her in more action exploitation fare like say THE EXPENDABLES 3, UNDISPUTIED 4, or going toe to toe with say Beatrix Kiddo in KILL BILL 3! I can only wish!

The plot of HAYWIRE is not it's strong suit and that's fine because the film is really Gina Carano's show. HAYWIRE is about Mallory Kane (Carano) a private contractor hired by the government to do a job only to be double crossed so some loose ends can get tied up. So as you can imagine that Mallory is the last person you would want to double cross. What happens next is some of the best fight scenes in American movies in a long time. Soderbergh really knows where to put the camera and just let Gina Carano do her thing. No BORNE SUPREMACY shaky cam action here thank goodness. Soderbergh really understands what it takes for a fight scene to have impact and be memorable. My favorite scene has to be the fight between Mallory and a British agent (Fassbender) in a hotel room. They demolish the room and themselves!

It's interesting that Soderbergh can bring a cast together that consists of Micheal Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, and Bill Paxton only so that all of them end up playing second fiddle to Gina Carano. It's almost like a trick or experiment on the audience or something? I found it kinda cool actually and just went with it because I knew early on that it's not about them but her.

I really enjoyed HAYWIRE and glad Steven Soderbergh has brought Gina Carano to Hollywood's attention. Now that she has been established maybe we can see her in the next Issac Florentine picture?
Maybe NINJA 2 with her and Scott Adkins, that'd be cool!

FAVORITES OF 2011 - MIDNIGHT IN PARIS

Last year I had no intention to see MIDNIGHT IN PARIS but I kept hearing such good things about it. A friend of mine who's opinion I take very seriously sent me a text one night saying MIDNIGHT IN PARIS was one of the best films he has seen in a long time, not just of 2011 but just in a long time period. Needless to say after my friends raving recommendation I had to check it out but not right away because films like HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN, ATTACK THE BLOCK, and RED STATE had top priority.

So the time finally came for me to watch MIDNIGHT IN PARIS and my friend was right it was indeed one of the best films of 2011. I really like this film! I thought to myself “okay it's my favorite romantic comedy of the year” but the week I saw the movie I couldn't stop talking about it so evidently it's a lot more than just my favorite romantic comedy of the year. I'm not going to pick a “best of” for 2011 but I do have a lot of favorite's and I'll just leave it at that.

What really draws me to MIDNIGHT IN PARIS is how much of a delightful fantasy it becomes. The location of Pairs is just so beautiful during the day, the night, and even in the rain. Next is how great all the characters are, you love the one's you're meant to love and hate the one's you're supposed to hate. Woody Allen loves and cares for his characters because they are so well written. I really connect with Gil (Owen Wilson) and his sincerity, enthusiasm, and hero worship of nostalgia. His girlfriend Inez (played wonderfully by Rachel McAdams) made me think to myself that for a long time now I've been chasing after the wrong kind of girls because the character of Inez reminded me of a few I know. Scary. Thank you Woody, thank you very much!

MIDNIGHT IN PARIS opens with a couple in love on vacation in Paris. Gil who is a successful screenwriter is tired of writing uninspired Hollywood droll and wants to write his great American novel in Paris. Inez wants the rich upper-class American suburb style of life because that seems all she knows. One night Gil goes walking the evening streets of Pairs to get inspired, being a little drunk and lost he takes a breather on some church steps only to find himself being picked up by some happy strangers and brought to a party you have to see to believe. From this point a element of fantasy is introduced that is down right brilliant. Telling you more would just ruin the experience for you and I hate doing that.

So this MIDNIGHT IN PARIS review officially kicks of my return to reviewing movies. If you're a returning reader welcome back! If you're now just reading me for the first time thanks for taking the time to read, I'm a little rusty and hope to change that. I've got a lot I want to write so please stay tuned and thanks again!

BMX BANDITS (1983)

Awe, childhood memories are the best. Growing up in the 80's one of the coolest things was cable television and HBO. If you had HBO in the greatest decade for movies it was the best film school money could buy! I might start a ongoing series about “hidden treasures” that I discovered on Home Box Office! Truthfully I don't think I'll be able to remember them all? But let's talk about one of my favorite understated movies from the 80's called BMX BANDITS.

BMX BANDITS is a kid's movie from Crocodile Dundee's homeland. This had to have been my first foreign film experience, when you're a kid it's easy to think all movies are made in Hollywood. The movie was released in 1983 to mediocre response in Australia and became a hard sell to USA distributors despite the popularity of BMX bikes in America. The cult classic success of BMX BANDITS didn't happen until around 1985 – 1987 thanks to cable channels The USA Network, The Disney Channel, Showtime, and of course HBO.

I remember waiting on Saturday mornings well after cartoons were over switching to channel 7 (HBO) determined BMX BANDITS was playing. This was the only way to see it because at the time my local video store didn't carry the film. This made the experience much more special plus the fact that not a lot of people knew of the film. On the playground BMX BANDITS would be brought up and sometimes sleepovers would be planned around watching the movie thanks to wonderful VHS recording.

The most popular thing about BMX BANDITS is that it has been logged in history as Nicole Kidman's first movie. Thankfully the film delivers more than that, I'm proud to say it's really really good and holds up well. The story is about a couple BMX'ers and their friend stumble upon a stash of bank robbers police transmitters/walkie talkies and sell them off to buy new bikes. The two crooks responsible for loosing the walkie talkies soon track the teenagers down and the rest of the film is a chase after chase throughout Sydney, Australia.

The acting is very good. The kids are very natural and believable which is rare in child and teen actors. The criminals are the comedic relief of the film and bring a nice Abbott and Costello touch to the characters. What keeps the movie timeless in my opinion is the direction and the stunning camera work. The rigs on the bikes and cars keeps you in the action and it's awesome.

I was so excited to find out that BMX BANDITS was going to be released on Blu-Ray! The disc is gorgeous by the way, the use of colors and the breathtaking scenery are a sight to behold!

Give it a watch if you can, I don't think you'll be disappointed.