THE CALL

Earlier this year when I saw the trailer for THE CALL I really thought the movie would unfortunately be the final nail in the coffin of Halle Berry's career. Turns out that THE CALL might be the best thing for the actresses career.

In this new golden age of television, movies are having a tough time especially for a film like THE CALL, it being a thriller and all. With shows like Dexter, C.S.I., and Hannibal how can movies like this compete? It's much like the western genre during the 50's and 60's. No studio wanted to make a cowboy movie when shows like Gunsmoke ruled prime time. I'm not going to get on a soap box about it but television is killing the movie industry. Maybe television and streaming content is the future? Everyday it seems that talent is moving more toward this medium. It'll be a sad day if going to the movies becomes a thing of the past.

So yeah, THE CALL is good. Really good until the end. The beginning of the film worried me at first but things just kept getting better and better. A few things annoyed me about the script with dialogue like this, “he's coming back up the stairs. He heard the phone when you called back”! You know, things characters don't need to say because we can clearly see them happening on screen. This stuff happens a few times but once the adrenaline kicks in it's barely noticeable.

Jordan (Halle Berry) a veteran 911 operator who takes a life altering call from a young woman who has been abducted, she realized that she must confront a killer from her past in order to save the girls life.

What makes THE CALL interesting is the taut directing of Brad Anderson(The Machinist). Great hand held camera work. There are a good chunk of scenes inside a trunk with abducted Casey Welson (Abigail Breslin) and the viewer gets an excellent sense of claustrophobia. Anderson knows where to put the camera and how to come up with interesting camera angles. The editing had a nice flow that keeps the tension going. I plan to check out more from director Brad Anderson.

The abductor/killer was one of the creepiest characters I've seen in awhile. The performance was almost like a character study of a psychopath whose plan starts to crumble before his very eyes.

At about the half way point I was really loving this movie. It was exceeding my expectations. Then the ending came along and kinda ruined the movie for me. The film takes this extreme left turn that took me out of the movie.

SPOILER ALERT!

So for the whole movie we have an entertaining thriller with the police trying to find the car that Casey is kidnapped in. The trail goes cold but the police and Jordan are so very close on finding her. Time is running out. Jordan gets a hunch and goes to look for where the killer and Casey might be. She goes by herself? Cut to (no pun intended) the killers lair and THE CALL suddenly turns into a Saw film? Okay fine, it's a thriller. So Jordan finds the lair and saves Casey. Where are the cops? Jordan is a 911 operator and not only that shes dating a police officer. A officer who was in hot pursuit of finding Casey mind you. So I ask again, why isn't Jordan calling the cops? Oh, because THE CALL turns into a revenge movie all of a sudden when the two women decide to tie the killer up and leave him for dead. Which is a stupid idea because I'm sure the police detectives are going to find his lair anyway, especially when you tell them he took off running in the very same area his lair is located?

Good movie with a terribly dumb ending!

THE HEAT

Another win for director Paul Feig (Bridesmaids)! THE HEAT is the second best comedy I've seen this year. The best being MOVIE 43. Just kidding. No, my favorite comedy of 2013 thus far is THIS IS THE END. I haven't reviewed that one because quite honestly reviewing comedies is difficult. Comedy is so subjective. Take the THE LOVE GURU for instance, some executive at Paramount Pictures had to think it was really funny or maybe they just hated Mike Myers? How's that fourth Austin Powers movie coming along?

I'm a huge fan of the buddy comedy. THE BLUES BROTHERS, TRADING PLACES, MIDNIGHT RUN, and PINEAPPLE EXPRESS are some of my favorite comedies of all time. Seeing that THE HEAT is a buddy-cop action comedy it would be a crime not to mention another favorite of mine, 48 HOURS.

In THE HEAT an FBI agent must go undercover in the Miss United States beauty pageant to prevent a group from bombing the event. Wait? What? No. That's not it. Sorry. Let me start over. In THE HEAT special agent Sarah Ashburn (Sandra Bullock) must team up with Boston police officer Shannon Mullins(Melissa McCarthy) in order to take down a ruthless drug lord. Neither has ever had a partner and prefer to work alone. Will they learn to work together or just kill each other in the process?

Nothing special about the story. FBI special agent Ashburn wants that promotion nabbing the drug lord will give her. Officer Mullins only wants to find the guys responsible for turning her brother into a drug dealer. In hilarious buddy-cop fashion both women find out they need each other more than they know or really want.

This review is going to be short. What's the point in me telling you all the funny parts? You won't go see the movie if I do that. More because of my poor explanation of comedic gold rather than just plain spoilers.

Melissa McCarthy is well on her way to mega stardom. Her comedic range in THE HEAT is impressive and with her expert improvisation she knows just how long to carry a joke and when to end one or go on to the next beat.

Sandra Bullock playing the uptight agent Sarah Ashburn complimented McCarthy's performance so well. It was so cute hearing Bullock using pseudo cuss words. And by the end of the film when her character was using the real F-word, it made the payoff all the more funnier. With this performance I really could not see another actress better suited for the role.

I highly recommend THE HEAT.

WHITE HOUSE DOWN

My immediate reaction after seeing WHITE HOUSE DOWN was not very good. I hated the movie. The tongue-in-cheek antics mixed with schmaltzy over the top patriotism for two straight hours got on my nerves fast. What saves this film however, is how it nails the Die Hard formula. Seriously, WHITE HOUSE DOWN is better than most Die Hard sequels. But ultimately this movie is not for me, it's too aware of how it is. WHITE HOUSE DOWN is definitely a Roland Emmerich movie. The other Die Hard knock off this year, OLYMPUS HAS FALLEN is more my speed.

There is nothing subtle in the direction or script (written by James Vanderbilt) when it comes to WHITE HOUSE DOWN. Big crazy action mixed with self righteous patriotism and stereotype right wing villains. Maybe the movie is actually brilliant in that regard seeing that most villains/terrorists in action movies are one dimensional foreign stereotypes. It's about time someone got it right. Good for you WHITE HOUSE DOWN, I applaud you in your courage.

Capitol policeman John Cale takes his young daughter to the White House for a tour while he interviews for a job to become part of the Secret Service. Seeing that his daughter Emily is very enthusiastic about politics John hopes that his new job will win back the respect he lost since the separation from his wife. With a resume that doesn't live up to the qualifications of a agent to the Secret Service, John doesn't get the job. In lieu of telling Emily the truth he side steps it to go on the tour and not ruin the entire day with his daughter.

President Sawyer is planning a glorious foreign policy publicity stunt by ending the war and pulling the U.S military out of the war zone. The war is over. This is awesome news for everyone except for “Republicans” that have business ties with weapons manufactures. How are these bastards going to make a living if there is no war? So the villains of WHITE HOUSE DOWN are not foreigners but are indeed some of America's distinguished gentlemen. At first I thought this was a clever take on the genre but this interesting idea never got above freshmen college politics.

In coup d'etat fashion the White House gets taken over by mercenaries and disgruntled secret service. The Die Hard formula kicks in when John gets separated from his daughter and in a stroke of luck saves President Sawyer. The rest of the movie is a cat and mouse game with lots of action and suspense. Despite being more dumb than fun I give WHITE HOUSE DOWN a solid recommendation for action film buffs. I wanna note that action movie buffs should be able to tell that the filmmakers really cut the action down to a PG-13. Bloody mayhem never gets out of control and I think foul language gets the mute button in some particular sticky situations.

While WHITE HOUSE DOWN is indeed a better Die Hard movie than this years A GOOD DAY TO DIE HARD, Channing Tatum has a long way to go as an action movie star. He's no Bruce Willis that's for sure. I'll give him an A for effort with one scene that was straight homage to DIE HARD. In one scene a terrorist busts in and John Cale acts all scared and cries “please don't hurt me, I'm just a tourist”! Then in a bad ass moment shoots the terrorists dead to rights. It wasn't perfect like John McClane from DIE HARD would of done it, but it was a great homage.

The chemistry between Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx is another saving grace to WHITE HOUSE DOWN. The bond that is created by John Cale and President Sawyer trying to make it out of the White House alive is genuine and one of the best cinematic duos of 2013.

I stand by my recommendation of WHITE HOUSE DOWN but in my honest opinion it is no where near as good as OYLMPUS HAS FALLEN. Check your politics at the door and go enjoy a big dumb action movie with WHITE HOUSE DOWN!

V/H/S/2

V/H/S/2 is a found footage genre masterpiece. The film transcends found footage if you ask me. When you forget that you are watching the gimmick of the sub-genre then you know you've got something special. I've been horror movie lite in 2013 but so far THE ABC'S OF DEATH and V/H/S/2 are the two best horror films I've seen this year. I consider THE ABC'S OF DEATH one of the most important and interesting films the horror genre has seen in a long time. More on that in a future review.

In the fashion of horror anthology films the concept is the same but our wraparound (segment that ties the other stories together) is different. This time around a pair of private investigators are hired to find a missing student. Their leads take them to a house where they discover some televisions, monitors, laptops, and of course a VHS player. On the desktop of the laptop is a video of the missing student. While the head investigator searches the house for more clues the assistant watches the video. Right away things start to get creepy. The young man on the video starts talking about that you have to watch the videos in order. Something along those lines anyway? The assistant puts a video in the player and thus begins the terror.

The first video/segment is called “Phase 1 Clinical Trials” directed by Adam Wingard (YOU'RE NEXT). Herman gets an eye operation after a terrible accident. The procedure is new and experimental so a tiny camera is installed to record for further testing and research. Everything is recorded, no privacy allowed. Things start getting weird from the get go. That very same evening Herman starts to see strange and creepy things. Images of a young dead girl and the illusion of somebody under the covers laying in his bed.

The next morning the visions have stopped and Herman meets a young woman who he recognizes from the hospital. She tells him about a similar operation done to her ear and that now she can hear dead people. According to Clarissa it's best to just live with seeing “the people” and ignore them. They only bother you if you're freaked out by them. She's learned to tune out the voices and it seems to be working for her. After a very convincing distraction everything seems fine, but apparently Herman isn't that strong and his visions get worse.

“Phase 1 Clinical Trials” worried me about V/H/S/2. It fits the tone just fine but the segment felt very weak as a opener. Somewhere in the middle of an anthology movie would have better suited this short.

The next tape is a segment titled “A Ride In The Park”. This one directed by the guy that brought us THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT. It starts off pretty cool with being shot on what appears to be a GoPro camera, the HD video is stunning. So is this student collecting these videos and importing the footage to VHS because he is a hipster? Not a nitpick, just a funny observation. The creep factor is still relevant despite the use of current digital technology. I get a FACES OF DEATH meets THE RING vibe with this new horror franchise.

In “A Ride In The Park” Jay ( I think that's his name) is riding some bike trails through the park. He loves to bike. With his new camera he is ready to get some good footage of his rides. His girlfriend calls him and scolds Jay for loving bike riding more than her. So it's one more ride before heading home when all of a sudden Jay is stopped by a woman screaming bloody murder in the forest. He stops to help only to get bitten on the neck by her. So now “A Ride In The Park” is a zombie movie. Good grief! It's not like we get enough of those nowadays! But wait. This is a POV zombie tale, and I don't think I've seen one of those yet so this could be interesting. It's what you would expect from a POV zombie short which is good and bad. The good. Interesting camera angles. The bad. The usual tropes of a zombie story.

I ended up loving this segment quite a bit. Toward the end I really liked the struggle that Jay was going though being a zombie and how his human characteristics were trying to stay alive. Now I haven't seen WARM BODDIES yet but I have a hunch that the end of “A Ride In The Park” has more impact than that movie.

What have the investigators been up to? After viewing the second tape Ayesha starts to become catatonic but compelled to continue watching the tapes.

The third tape “Safe Haven” directed by Gareth Evans (THE RAID) ended up being my favorite segment and one of the best things I've seen this year. “Safe Haven” follows a group of documentary filmmakers shooting a movie about the leader of a cult. The Indonesian Jim Jones as I like to call him. With video and spy cameras we are able to witness the inner workings of the cult. “Safe Haven” alone is worth the watch of V/H/S/2. I don't want to spoil all the fun so I apologize for sounding vague. Within the cult a ritual is upon us. Unsuspecting to the invited film crew, two of them are extremely welcome. Think ROSEMARY'S BABY meets CANNIBAL HOLOCAUST meets Italian horror. It gets so crazy! I was in shock and awe repeatedly. Things I haven't seen done before in a horror film or at least not done since the late seventies or early eighties. The types of things you'll never see in a mainstream multiplex Hollywood movie today. I loved it! Watching “Safe Haven” made me excited about horror again.

Before getting into the fourth and final tape the wraparound of V/H/S/2 concludes with the student on the laptop video killing himself in the very same house the investigators are watching the videos in. Long story short he's a zombie and he kills, oops sorry, turns them into zombies. The end. Creepy but not nearly as cool as the first films wraparound.

The fourth tape “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” was the funnest segment in the movie. Directed by Jason Eisner (HOBO WITH A SHOTGUN) “Slumber Party Alien Abduction” follows a group of friends enjoying the summer and also pranking one of the friends older sister. One night the sister plans on throwing a party at the lake house while the parents are away. The little brother and his pals plan the ultimate prank. Mission accomplished, but it never takes much to embarrass your older sister. Her and her boyfriend plan a little payback and let me tell you it's the ultimate payback. Good thing for this kid that shortly thereafter alien's pay the lake house a visit because after what the sister and her boyfriend caught on tape that guy will have to transfer to a different school, out of town. It sounds silly typing it out but believe me this premise totally works. I got pretty nostalgic watching this segment. Back in the day around third or fourth grade I remember staying the night at a friends house. He lived in a big house and that night his older sisters pulled a prank on us that the house was haunted. I love stuff like that.

I really hope this is the beginning to a new horror franchise. The genre really needs something like V/H/S and V/H/S/2. Maybe these films can accomplish what GRINDHOUSE failed to do? I certainly hope so.

WORLD WAR Z

WORLD WAR Z  is too little too late.  Our culture is over saturated with zombies. They're everywhere nowadays it seems; video games, movies, books, and television.  What once was a sub-genre in horror beloved by cinephiles has now become low hanging fruit in our pop culture obsessed society.  Every once in awhile something fresh like ZOMBIELAND or THE WALKING DEAD comes along and keeps the sub-genre interesting, sadly WORLD WAR Z does not.

When a studio wants a movie dealing with the zombie apocalypse and makes it PG-13, then your movie has failed.  Who is the audience for a PG-13 zombie movie anyway?  Any 12 year old can turn on the television and watch THE WALKING DEAD or play the latest DEAD ISLAND video game and get a better zombie movie experience.  That being said, WORLD WAR Z is not a bad movie just not a very effective "zombie" one.

Brad Pitt plays Gerry a retired UN investigator who now spends most of his days making pancakes for his two young daughters. On a day just like any other day Mr. Mom is taking the kids to school or his wife to work, I must of missed where they were going? Gerry and his family get stuck in a traffic jam and it is around this time that the zombie apocalypse begins. Trying not to panic Gerry uses his former job skills to lead him and his family to safety. During which he is assessing the chaos going on trying to deduct just what is going on.

He witnesses mass hysteria and people turning into rabid savages. The first moment out of harms way he uses a cell phone and calls his old boss to find out what is happening. They formulate a plan of extraction to evacuate the city. The UN tell Gerry all that they know up to this point and how it is up to him to help find out if there could be a cure to this “zombie apocalypse”. With the promise of his families safety Gerry agrees to globe trot around the world in search of answers and ultimately a cure.

My favorite thing about WORLD WAR Z was that it ended up not being the prequel to 2007's I AM LEGEND. Just kidding. What I really did like was the chaos our main character was constantly thrown into with following the “breadcrumbs” of the zombie virus. The film took a few clever turns always keeping Gerry on his toes. This made for a consistently entertaining action thriller. Director Marc Forester makes up for the lack of blood and gore with strong scenes of tension. The tone of WORLD WAR Z is very R rated but with little to no blood and zero gore the movie has been resorted to something akin to a Roland Emmerich film.

Time to cut the zombies some slack. I really liked the hive mentality of the zombies and in lieu of an appetite for brains the bite and infect method worked for me in the confines of the film. And concerning the hoards of CGI zombies climbing up buildings and going over walls did in fact look terrible in all of the trailers but did not bother me all that much when seeing it in context.

WORLD WAR Z did not turn out to be the train wreak that I was expecting. Bland trailers and word that the film was just not coming together made me think WORLD WAR Z might be an awesomely so-bad-it's good movie rather than a boringly bad one. Producer and star Brad Pitt gathered the troops to try and save what was at one time a disaster of a movie. Rewrites and something like the last 40 minutes of the film redone. If the original footage ends up on the blu-ray it might make for a pretty fun bad movie night.

A decent action thriller I recommend to the summer movie crowd. If it's zombie horror you are expecting then steer clear.

MAN OF STEEL

The new Superman movie MAN OF STEEL is good. Real good. I might even love the movie but there is still a lot that I am processing of what I just saw. The issue that's bothering me the most is that by the end of the movie I was getting mentally exhausted by the special effects. MAN OF STEEL is a brawler super hero film and I love that; however, I found myself getting very disconnected with the conflict between Superman and General Zod because of the amazing special effects. With everything happing so fast I found myself getting bored. It made me immediately start to think that the Metropolis fight scene in SUPERMAN II was a lot more interesting because less is more. Making it way more exciting because the film is relying more on performance rather than CGI.

The structure of MAN OF STEEL took some getting use to. First of all this is not the Donner-verse and there are zero traces of those films or SUPERMAN RETURNS. Some are already panning MAN OF STEEL from going away from archetype of the 1978 film. This new reinvention of Superman isn't going to be for everyone. Even I'm on the fence, but the comic book kid within me felt that MAN OF STEEL was a bad ass Superman story. The movie geek within felt that the action got a little tiresome with all the special effects. This side of me was also thinking that filmmaker Richard Donner is still correct 35 years later by stating Superman fighting/brawling some big alien/monster thing will get boring fast on the silver screen. Superman in a fight has zero conflict because he's Superman. In adapting a comic book movie some things should just be left in the comic books.

Okay so I got my nitpick about CGI fighting out of the way and the comic book kid and movie geek have both come to the conclusion that MAN OF STEEL rocks! Forget everything you know about the previous films and just enjoy the ride. Audiences were ready and willing for BATMAN BEGINS to wipe the slate clean for the cinematic tales of the Caped Crusader and the same should be said and expected for MAN OF STEEL.

MAN OF STEEL is heavy science fiction and filled with crazy super powers. The film opens on Krypton and immediately the pages of the comic book came to life. I was reminded of John Byrne's comic book mini series that reinvented the character of Superman in the mid to late 80's. I wish the movie spent a little more time on Krypton, very interesting stuff going on visually.

Jor-El and his wife Lara send their baby boy Kal-El to earth so that he may live. His alien craft lands in the Kent farm and is raised to adulthood by earth parents Jonathan and Martha Kent. This films reinvention plays up the idea of Clark Kent being a stranger in a strange land. He doesn't fit in, he's an alien, an outsider. The origin of this “Man of Steel” picks up with Clark in adulthood drifting from odd job to odd job and really soul searching. Through flashbacks we see his childhood and parental lessons that made him who he is today. With comic books, the 1978 film, and the television show SMALLVILLE it's very clear that the origin of Superman is well established in pop culture so it was nice how director Zack Snyder handled all the child and teenage years in his film. Lots of visual story and character development going on here instead of boring exposition that most people buying a ticket to MAN OF STEEL probably know anyway.

Reporter Lois Lane is developing a story about someone, a drifter out there exhibiting amazing feats of strength. She eventually tracks Clark down and instantly their friendship/romance begins. Hands down Amy Adams is the best big screen, heck even small screen iteration of the character. I loved the chemistry between the two. It was very convincing how much these two characters need each other.

Clark finds his 'fortress of solitude' and meets his biological father Jor-El. The next to final piece of Clark's/Kal-El's destiny is complete. The ending of the film is where he truly becomes Superman. At least that's what I got out of the ending. Very similar to BATMAN BEGINS but different cinematic universe. The new films take on Superman was an interesting departure to the well known American boy scout attitude that is mostly associated with the character. I liked how the filmmakers focused on him being a very introverted character and alone. They nailed how normal people would react to a “freak” with abilities like Clark has. Henry Cavill is a great Superman. While Brandon Routh was channeling Christopher Reeve in SUPERMAN RETURNS I felt that Cavill was bringing a Tom Welling from SAMALLVILLE vibe. Could be a coicidence but maybe this was intentional on the producers part, you know to reel in the younger crowd? Who knows?

It is around this time that Zod and the rest of the Phantom Zone criminals track down Kal-El and announces to the fine people of Earth that Kal-El is a traitor and if they do not hand him over/he surrenders to Zod, then Earth will perish. Micheal Shannon is one of the greatest working actors of today. His intensity he brings to every role he's done is absolutely amazing. His General Zod is perfectly convincing. You know he's gone mad with his plans for coup d'etat, but you also feel sorry for him a little bit because he's just doing his duty, doing what he was engineered to do and that is the preservation of his people. Micheal Shannon totally sells it.

What happens next is awesome; but yet, the films greatest weakness is the endless fighting. It's amazing visuals. Zack Snyder succeeded in making a Superman brawler film. Except toward the end some of the action was getting boring because the emotional connection was getting lost in the CGI. Just like it did in Snyder's last film SUCKER PUNCH. I shouldn't complain because for years I've wanted a Superman film of this scale. We're talking Godzilla magnitudes of destruction and while it is overkill in parts, the sum is comic book movie gold. These scenes would have benefited better if they had added some scenes of Superman saving some civilians here and there. Because when you think about it millions of innocent people in Metropolis just died and I think we only see him save Lois a few times. In the sequel it'd be nice if this is why and how they set up the rivalry between Superman and Lex Luther. Lex convinces Metropolis and the world that Superman is not the symbol of hope that he claims to be but a villain instead.

Now onto the ending of the film which is becoming very divided among fans. Should Superman have killed Zod? Yes. Zod was a mad dog that needed to be put down and to be honest he put himself in a position where Superman had no choice but to kill him. Superman does not kill. Maybe it was a mistake not to have Zod sent back into the Phantom Zone? It's clear that Superman did not want to kill Zod but had to. But maybe the filmmakers have now painted themselves in a corner with future baddie s such as Brainiac or Darkseid. All of whom are more threating than Zod. So now is it justified that he kills them as well? Sorry for the flip flopping, bottom line is Superman should not kill.

I think I've said enough. Go see MAN OF STEEL, the more I think about it the higher I want to recommend it. With The Dark Knight trilogy and now a new Superman movie Christopher Nolan and Zack Snyder are making movies that have potential to stand the test of time. As much as I love MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS in time I just think the movie will seem dated when compared to the Nolan Batman movies and now MAN OF STEEL.

STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS

WARNING! MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD! I love these new Star Trek re-imagining/alternate time line films!  With that being said, the newest film STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS is guilty of some lazy insulting fan service pandering.  First off, the big secret reveal of the villain  failed miserably. Benedict Cumberbatch is an amazing actor and played an awesome bad guy; however, once it's revealed he is Kahn and not “John Harrison” the character quickly becomes insulting lip service to fans. Very anti-climatic if you ask me.

For a moment after this "shocking" reveal, I thought to myself that director J.J. is better than this.  I am of the opinion that J.J. Abrams more than likely has the clout to have final cut.  This Khan business smells like it's straight from corporate if you ask me.  Paramount probably gave J.J and his writing team creative control with the exception of one thing, that the sequel must deal with Khan.  The build up and months of speculation on who exactly the villain of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS was going to be just fell flat.

With what Cumberbatch brings to the character John Harrison could have been a interesting addition to the rogues gallery for the parallel Star Trek universe, but instead we now have a pointless re imagined Kahn. The marketing department should look at how IRON MAN 3 kept it's "big reveal" under wraps when promotion gets under way for Star Trek 3.

Trust me, I really liked this movie just let me get one other thing off my chest.

So with Kahn being the big bad of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS one would assume the movie is going to turn into a STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KAHN remake right?  Sort of. You see, the new film is more of a re imaging of the episode 'Space Seed' from the original series than it is a remake of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KAHN. With the exception of some similar dialogue and scenes, one scene in particular that takes advantage of the parallel universe juxtaposition by switching roles in a death. It was actually a great scene and very moving, but took it to far by giving Spock the famous Kahn yell. I'll admit this is all sounding nit picky and to be honest it is and I'm normally not that kind of movie watcher. These two issues just frustrate me as being lazy and will suffice for Johnny-come-lately geek is sheik “movie geeks”. Case in point, the audience went way too crazy excited when John Harrison revealed he was Kahn. Really? Must be the same people that think EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is the most boringest one?

  The crew of the U.S.S Enterprise return after a daring mission saving an alien race from a volcano that would wipe them out. The mission did not go as planed. They save the alien race but not without breaking the Prime Directive. Captain Kirk looses the Enterprise and ordered back to Starfleet Academy. First officer Spock is reassigned to another ship. Days later San Fransisco/Starfleet HQ falls victim to a terrorist bombing. Head Starfleet personnel hold a meeting to find out who is responsible. Their proof leads them to a member of some secret black ops squad (I'm not 100% on that) that goes by the name of John Harrison who is hiding out on the Klingon home world Kronos . Out of revenge Kirk volunteers to take the Enterprise and her crew to go get this murderous bastard. Starfleet accepts this request but are they telling Kirk and his crew everything? Will Kirk take the high road and do the right thing even if it costs him something? With a moderate recommendation I say go see STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS to find out!

Like a good sequel it jumps right into the action and doesn't stop. I forgot how much I have missed these characters so it was fun to see J.J. and his team give them another fun and exciting adventure. This alternate time line Star Trek really caters to me, the Star Wars kid.

With J.J. Abrams directing the new Star Wars movie, what is to become of STAR TREK 3? How far are they going to go with the alternate time line? Before they run it into the ground I'd be happy with one epic feature film exploring the five year mission. They could toy with time travel to correct the alternate time line? I love what Abrams has done with breathing new life into the film franchise but without going completely backwards maybe it's time to hire a director that loves Star Trek like J.J. Loves Star Wars!

IRON MAN 3

Summer movie season 2013 has officially begun with the beginning of Marvel's Phase Two with IRON MAN 3!

To kick off this “new chapter” of the Marvel cinematic universe's most popular character we welcome director Shane Black (KISS,KISS BANG,BANG). Black and Robert Downey Jr. are reunited and it's awesome. With screenwriter credits that include action classics such as LETHAL WEAPON and THE LAST BOY SCOUT, Shane Black is the exact guy you'd want on the Marvel team of film making talent. His contribution feels like whenever a comic book publisher would hire a new talented creative team for your favorite super hero.

I'm babbling on about Shane Black; to sum it up, he made a Lethal Weapon comic book movie.  That my friends is super cool! Not only that but ever since it's been known that Robert Downey Jr. may hang up the suit of armor sooner than later, I've made the comment that Iron Man is sort of like the 'James Bond' of this cinematic universe. Who will play the character next? Just like the Bond films. During the sweet looking end credits they had this 'Iron Man is a secret agent film from the 70's type vibe. I sat there and thought the movie did have a oo7 adventure vibe to it. Just another cool thought!

Tony Stark has never been the same since The Avengers saved New York City from nuclear fallout and planet Earth from alien domination.  He can't sleep and he also suffers panic attacks.  Stark is a natural born tinkerer.  Since he cannot sleep he builds Iron Man suits.  He's built a lot of them. Forty-two I think?  Innovation is also something Tony Stark is good at.  Besides crafting armor he has been trying to integrate some new technology called Extremis. Something he's been toying with every since being introduced to it by the lovely Maya Hanson back in 1999 at a Sweden science convention. This new tech has given Tony the ability to have a mental connection to his armor.

Another person Tony met at the convention was Aldrich Killian who later partnered up with Miss Maya Hanson and later perfected the Extremis virus. Fast forward to today where Aldrich makes a visit to Stark Industries selling the idea of the new and improved Extremis technology to Pepper Potts as the future in Weapons & Defense. Stark Industries is not interested in something that can easily get into the wrong hands.

Super heroes rarely have any time off. The latest threat to the world is a terrorist who calls himself The Mandarin. The Mandarin hates America and wants to destroy it with no mercy. One day the terror comes to the doorstep of Tony Stark when a terrorist attack almost takes the life of Happy Hogan, his close friend and former bodyguard.

After a personal threat from Tony. the Mandarin accepts the invitation by sending some rockets to his house via helicopter.

Presumed dead, Tony now has the low profile to find out what The Mandarin is really up to and stop him once and for all. With the armor at less the 5% power Tony must figure out how to stop the madman incognito using his wits and mechanical skills.

Will Iron Man stop The Mandarin before he kills the President of the United States of America? You'll have to see for yourself because I don't want to spoil the fun.

The way the film handles The Mandarin I'm a little unsure about. I remember an interview awhile back after the second film where director Jon Favreau said the third movie will deal with Iron Man's arch nemesis The Mandarin. Now in the comic books this character uses black arts and mystical powers. That seems odd to translate for the cinematic Iron Man. Mystical villains fit better in a Thor film one would think. But after introducing Thanos to the cinematic universe at the end of MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS all is possible in these films now.

The filmmakers of IRON MAN 3 decided not to make The Mandarin mystical which as made hard core comic geeks outraged. Not me. I liked what they did to the character just fine. Why did some people refer to him as The Master and not Mandarin? You'll have to see the movie to know what I'm talking about. Maybe we haven't seen the last of “The Mandarin” just yet?

IRON MAN 3 is the best one yet. It's also a nice complete trilogy of films. We probably don't need another one. Who am I kidding. This one is already making a killing in worldwide box office numbers!

For the next one I think they've set things up nicely for an 'Armor Wars' story arc.

IRON MAN 2

Does IRON MAN 2 suck?  The film does have some issues but to say it sucks I think is a tad harsh.  Under close observation one can tell the film was rushed to avoid the writers strike. On second thought it might have been in production during the writers strike? Who knows? All I know is, is that I like it. What keeps me coming back to IRON MAN 2 is the films fun irreverence. Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark and it'll be big shoes to fill after the Avengers sequel. Early word is that IRON MAN 3 fixes all the problems with IRON MAN 2. I'm expecting the new film to be far superior, so more than likely IRON MAN 2 might become a distant memory like STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK and not the worst thing ever like STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER.

I have a love hate relationship with the Avengers Initiative sub plot in the Phase One Marvel movies. I love the sub plot because I was a huge comic book geek back in the day and seeing this stuff unfold on the silver screen and done correctly mind you is a dream come true. What I hate is that the so called sub plot feels more like 'the plot' and these Phase One films tend to feel too much like advertisements for MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS. What if MARVEL'S THE AVENGERS had ended up sucking?

My only other problem with the movie is Micky Rourke. Great actor but in this he looks asleep half of the time. I don't think he wanted to be in the movie. I have no clue but in some scenes it really feels like he is just improvising most of the time probably because he doesn't give a crap.

My final nit pick is that the movie only has 3 or 4 action scenes in it. Isn't it movie law that a sequel must have at least twice the amount of action as the original?

Despite all that I love the humor in the movie. From the beginning at Capitol Hill till the end with Pepper Potts getting on to Tony for not telling her that he might be dying. Good Stuff.

In conclusion I think IRON MAN 2 holds up significantly well if you're a fan of the Tony Stark character and the rest of the Iron Man universe. But if you take that aspect away from it then yeah it's not that great of a movie with it's rushed production and pacing issues.

So far I love the Marvel cinematic universe and that's what's going to keep me coming back to this film. Maybe not as much as the other films in the series, but I'll likely never write it off as an epic fail.

Tomorrow I see IRON MAN 3 which kicks off Phase Two of the Marvel cinematic universe! I cannot wait!

PAIN AND GAIN

Micheal Bay finally made his Tony Scott film! Yes his entire career has had a major Tony Scott influence but with PAIN AND GAIN he nailed it 100%!

I love PAIN AND GAIN!

Now, for those of you that know me I like to give Micheal Bay a lot of crap. Overall I don't really care for his style but once in awhile it works for me like with THE ROCK, BAD BOYS II, THE ISLAND, and now PAIN AND GAIN. His over indulgent Baymageddon style works in these films whereas in PEARL HARBOR and TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN it makes your eyes and ears bleed.

A lot of crazy stuff happens here on planet earth. Sometimes people do the dumbest things. You hear about it all the time on the news, at the water cooler, or at a friends barbecue. You hear World's Most Dangerous Car Chases type stuff everyday. And once in awhile you'll hear a story that makes you think or say, “That's sounds like something straight out of a movie”! PAIN AND GAIN is one of those stories. And unfortunately when the end credits start to roll you'll be sickened to death that there are real twisted sons of bitches that would do something like this.

So yeah as I write this review I realize this true story has hit a nerve. I still very much like the movie because it's a story so insane that it needs to be told. And with a true crime story this crazy about excess, greed, and murder it makes perfect sense that Micheal Bay is the one to bring the tale to the silver screen.

A trio of bodybuilders in Florida get caught up in an extortion ring and a kidnapping scheme that goes terribly wrong. Mark Wahlberg plays Daniel Lugo a personal trainer who believes the key to living the American dream and entitlements are not hard work but rather get rich quick schemes. He's gotten in trouble before but once you've tasted greed it's hard to stop. He meets client Victor Kershaw who is your typical gym member that wants quick results without hard work, oh and by the way he is super rich. Daniel hates people like Victor, he's delusional in thinking these are the bad guys and one day decides to kidnap him and extort him for all he's worth.

Helping Daniel in this scheme is meathead Adrian Doorbal (Anthony Mackie) and born again ex-con Paul Doyle (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson).

It takes some heavy convincing from Daniel at first but like he tells his future “business” partners, “I've seen this done a million times in the movies. Don't worry I know what I'm doing”.

To tell you what happens next would ruin the experience and you'll just have to see the movie yourself. I'll just say these dumb bastards make the Three Stooges look like professional criminals.

For me that's what makes me like this film so much, Micheal Bay isn't glorifying their actions but rather showing us how stupid these guys truly are.

This is probably Micheal Bay's best film. Great performances from everybody involved.

Highly recommended!

GANGSTER SQUAD

When it comes to movies like GANGSTER SQUAD it's really unfair for me to give them an honest review. I live for this stuff. Good guys vs. bad guys, tough as nails G-men taking out stone cold ruthless crime bosses. All taking place in a stylized, pulpy 1940's post-WWII Los Angeles.

Inspired by true events (not to be confused with based on a true story) GANGSTER SQUAD is the story of how a secret crew led by two police officers took down mob boss Micky Cohen and his ruthless control of Los Angeles. The leader of this squad Sgt. John O'Mara (played wonderfully by Josh Brolin) is the 'bull in the china shop' that's needed to bring down a guy like Micky Cohen.

He can't do it alone so in THE UNTOUCHABLES fashion he assembles a rag-tag under the radar, best of the best group of bad asses. The cool and smooth Sgt. Jerry Wooters (Ryan Gosling), heavy hitters like knife wielding Officer Coleman Harris (Anthony Mackie), and sharp shooter Officer Max Kennard (Robert Patrick). An organization like Micky's cannot be brought down by brawn alone so Officer Conway Keeler (Giovanni Ribisi) brings some brains and balance that is the final piece of the Gangster Squad.

The cast of GANGSTER SQUAD is amazing. Brolin and crew come off as genuine bad asses. The real star of the picture however is Sean Penn's Mickey Cohen. The performance is over the top and perfect for Ruben Fleischer's gangster genre film. Truth be told that the real life Mickey Cohen was indeed ruthless but kinda normal and dull. His real demise was tax evasion. I love that the filmmakers made the character more interesting and how Sean channeled a bit of James Cagney for the role. It's awesome!

When you watch GANGSTER SQUAD you're going to quickly notice that you've seen this before. But that's okay, remember this is a genre film not an A&E Biography. I didn't cry out 'fake' or 'phony' when I noticed call backs to classics such as THE UNTOUCHABLES and TOMBSTONE. It made the experience a much more enjoyable one not a cynical one. I mention TOMBSTONE because this movie felt much like a western just as much as it was a gangster film.

The film also reminded me of SIN CITY with it's sprinkle of dark humor and highly stylized violence. This fit the tone of GANGSTER SQUAD perfectly and for those saying this movie was just one step away from becoming spoof are smoking crack.

I believe the great amount of cynicism GANGSTER SQUAD is receiving stems from the tragic events that occurred at the midnight showing of THE DARK KNIGHT RISES last year in Aurora, Colorado. This resulted in the postponement of the movies release and scene removal of a shoot out taking place in a theater auditorium. Which was an appropriate move by the studio. I don't want to get political so I'll just leave it at that.

The bottom line is that GANGSTER SQUAD isn't going to reinvent the wheel of gangster movies. What it does do is give you an entertaining movie night.

Highly recommended for genre movie buffs, gangster film geeks, and Lee Marvin fans.

OBLIVION

This review is going to be a little bias. I freaking love OBLIVION! While the film is nothing original, it is in fact directed with such visual style that I couldn't keep my eyes off of the screen. Even during the slow parts I was in awe of film and it's IMAX presentation. OBLIVION not being in 3D was a nice cherry on top as well!

OBLIVION takes place in 2077. Sixty years earlier Earth was attacked by aliens called Scavengers. During the invasion things got ugly just like in any war. The Moon was destroyed and in a last ditch effort to win, Earth launched all it's nuclear weapons to defeat the Scavs (Scavengers for short). After the war Earth became unable to support life. The human race now lives either on Titan (one of Saturn's moons) or the giant space station called the Tet, which orbits Earth's atmosphere.

Tom Cruise plays Technician #49 Jack Harper. Jack and communications officer Victoria are part of an operation to extract the planet's remaining resources, primarily water for the people now living on Titan. The space station Tet is basically mission control for Jack and Victoria.

What remain of the alien Scavs are basically resistance fighters. In the event of Jack and Victoria ever getting captured by the Scavs they have underwent a memory wipe five years prior in case of capture and interrogation. Jack's primary job is the maintenance and support of 'drones' which patrol the landscape to destroy any remaining Scavs and protect the resource retraction machines. In the final weeks of their operation Jack has begun having dreams and flashbacks of New York City before the invasion. In his dreams he keeps seeing a woman that is not his teammate and part-time lover.

Days before Jack and Victoria are to return to the Tet, a spacecraft crashes on the surface. Jack investigates to find a number of sleeping capsules. One of the capsules contains Julia, the woman from his flashbacks. Soon after, Jack and Julia are captured by Scavs who are revealed to be humans living underground. Their leader, Malcolm Beech (played by Morgan Freeman), claims there are no aliens on the planet and insists that Jack sees things their way and demands that he reprograms a captured drone to destroy the Tet.

Jack refuses and Malcolm lets him go but not without telling him to venture out beyond the so called radiation zones, it is there that Jack will have all the answers he needs.

The story of OBLIVION provides nothing new, we've seen and heard these stories before. From the trailers you can piece together that Morgan Freeman's character is really the good guy and Tom Cruise's Jack has been helping the true bad guys all along. The good news is that OBLIVION isn't I AM LEGEND 2.

I love science fiction but by no means do I consider myself a science fiction geek. I love the classics like THE MATRIX, 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, PLANET OF THE APES, and THE TERMINATOR. But when I sit down and watch something like STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION I don't understand half the scientific jargon they are talking about nor do I care. Moviegoers like myself and geeks of sci-fi will quickly discover the 'twist' inside OBLIVION but director Joseph Kosinski makes the film shine through the cliches. The world he has created here is absolutely stunning.

I always come from the school of thought that it's not how original your movie is, but rather it's how you tell your story. OBLIVION borrows from many many other science fiction stories and films, but the film is pure genre and revels in pure 70's science fiction film homage; therefore, I give it a full pardon of not being original.

I highly recommend OBLIVION!

Spoilers! Well, sort of.

The ending of the movie had me seriously thinking, did Tom Cruise just denounce Scientology?

EVIL DEAD (2013)

Nothing about horror movies excites me anymore it seems. Nowadays it's all 80's horror icons re imagined, hacking and slashing away at unlikeable Abercrombie and Fitch models. Or what's possibly worse is that our vampires, werewolves, and zombies all have to be sexy now. Lame. The other end of the spectrum isn't all that great either. When the horror genre isn't appealing to teenagers or stay at home soccer mom's, it goes overboard to the tasteless gory torture porn extreme. Does anybody remember that JAWS all taught us that less is more? But what if the movie is meant to be a splatter house blood soaking horror show? Then make it fun maybe even a little humorous, just don't get lost in the tasteless gore. Who am I to tell someone what they should and should not like? There is no accounting for taste. Bottom line is I don't like tasteless gore in my horror movies, the keyword there is tasteless.

When it comes to the Evil Dead movies I love EVIL DEAD II more than the original. It was the first one I saw of the trilogy and is my favorite of the series. It was either 1987 or 1988 when I saw EVIL DEAD II for the first time on good old HBO, A.K.A “The Babysitter”. It was one of the most original and entertaining movies I had ever seen. It was probably the first multi genre movies I had ever seen too. It had everything; horror, action, and comedy. It is and forever shall be one of my favorite movies.

The original EVIL DEAD was a film I didn't get around to seeing until well after ARMY OF DARKNESS. Something about EVIL DEAD did not appeal to me. I had know for quite awhile that it was not humorous like it's sequel but serious, scary, and gory very gory. The time had finally come so my friends and I rented it one afternoon (because we were too scared to watch it at night) and we hated it. We like our slapstick Evil Dead thank you very much. We hated that the movie was so grim and the violence and gore was serious in nature. Yuck. No thanks.

* I want to be clear that I do not think that EVIL DEAD is tasteless. The filmmakers set out to make a scary horror movie.

Over the years I've grown to appreciate EVIL DEAD the more I see it but it's still my least favorite of the series.

For years fans have wanted a fourth Evil Dead film but the original filmmakers have said no, until just recently. So EVIL DEAD IV looks to be happening but it also seems like they are going to call it ARMY OF DARKNESS II. Too early to know for certain. What is certain is that producers Sam Raimi and Bruce Campbell along with director Fede Alvarez have made an amazing remake.

My biggest fear with EVIL DEAD (2013) was no slapstick, no Ash, and too much emphasis on torture porn gore. I felt this was catering to a new generation of horror audiences, people that love evil winning and monsters that kill the hero. I underestimated Fede Alvarez big time!

I won't argue that this new film is a remake, but it just felt more like an expanded universe Evil Dead story to me. The nods to the original are much much more than winks to the fans if you ask me. Time will tell.

Five friends head to a remote cabin to help their friend Mia quit heroin. This isn't the first time they've tried to make her quit. No matter what happens no matter how hard Mia begs, they are not leaving until she's clean. Siblings David and Mia haven't been to the family cabin for a long time and since then, some strange stuff has been going on. The discovery of a Book of the Dead leads to the summoning of some demons in the woods. The evil possesses them until one is left to fight for survival.

At first the pacing is a little slow and none of the five friends are all that likable. Mia played by Jane Levy did an amazing job. Everybody else seemed one dimensional which is too common in horror movies today. If the rest of the cast had just a little more to work with in regards to their characters I may have been a little more invested in them. One character in particular, Eric, his curiosity in the Book of the Dead came off as cliché rather than believable curiosity.

Yes, no traces of EVIL DEAD II are to be found in this remake. The gore and horror are serious; however, it's done in such a way that yes it's gross but not once did I get the sense the movie is glorifying the gore.

For me the real star of the picture was the use of practical effects. No CGI gore here at all from what I can tell. I hate CGI blood and gore. Hate it!

I highly recommend EVIL DEAD (2013) only if you love horror movies, and I do stress love. I liked the movie but when the film reached that final act, I absolutely loved it! It brought me to that level of excitement that KILL BILL VOL.1 did.

Kudos to Sam Raimi, Bruce Campbell, and Fede Alvarez for opening this universe again.

A few thoughts on the 85th Academy Awards

I cannot help but to continue to watch the Oscars, it's my love of movies.  Who will win Best Picture this year at the 85th Academy Awards?  I really want DJANGO UNCHAINED to win but sadly it doesn't stand a chance I'm afraid.  The award will more than likely go to ARGO who is sweeping up other Best Picture awards in various guilds.  So it's a safe bet ARGO will be the big winner.  The only opposition I see for ARGO is LINCOLN or SILVER LININGS PLAYBOOK.  I'd be happy if ARGO won, I really love that movie but among all the nominees DJANGO UNCHAINED has my vote for "best picture".

For me it's hard to tell who will walk away with the award for Best Director?  I'm going to play it safe and predict Steven Spielberg for LINCOLN.

The Best Actor In A Leading Role award should go to Joaquin Phoenix for THE MASTER; however, the award will go to Daniel Day Lewis for his amazing performance as Abraham Lincoln in LINCOLN.  What I'd like to know is where are the nominations for Liam Neeson?  He was amazing in THE GREY!  And what about Matthew McConaughey for KILLER JOE?

As far as Best Actress In a Leading Role goes, I haven't the slightest idea. I've only seen two of the movies in this category which puts me at a disadvantage. It's a shot in the dark but I'll say the award will go to Emmanuelle Riva for AMOUR. I personally think it's still to early for Jennifer Lawrence to nab a Oscar but her time will come I'm sure of it.

Tommy Lee Jones seems like the shoe in for Best Actor In a Supporting Role for LINCOLN. I'd be perfectly happy with that win but Christoph Waltz was amazing as usual in DJANGO UNCHAINED that I cannot help but root for him again.

While I thought that THE MASTER was underwhelming as a whole, I did however love the performances. Amy Adams deserves the award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role because deep down I felt it was her character “running the show” the entire time. It's subtle but it's there.

One more award I'm going to talk about. The one that I honestly care about most this year and that is the award for Best Cinematography. Roger Deakins must, I repeat must receive this years award for his beautiful work on SKYFALL. This is his year! Don't let me down Academy.

SUSHI GIRL

My finally getting to see SUSHI GIRL couldn't have come at a better time. Quentin Tarantino is a big influence on me and some of my recent script ideas over the past few years. It's very important to me that his influence never turns into copying. I loved SUSHI GIRL but in the end it reminded me what not to do.

SUSHI GIRL is an homage more or less to Tarantino, the heist genre, and exploitation film goodness.

Six years ago Fish went to prison. Six years alone. Six years he kept his mouth shut about the robbery, about the other men involved, and about the diamonds. The night he is released, the four men he protected with silence celebrate his freedom with a congratulatory dinner. In Japanese Yakuza tradition the feast is an array of Sushi served off the naked body of a woman. The woman is trained to be catatonic and ignore anything and everything that happens in the room. And I do mean anything.

So as you can imagine things get pretty heated as the thieves open old wounds over dinner finding out what happened to the missing diamonds. While technically being original a lot of this reminded me of the film RESERVOIR DOGS especially with all the flashbacks and torture scenes. The filmmakers did a good job of making an homage to Tarantino, but the lesson learned is that there is only one Quentin Tarantino.

The best thing about SUSHI GIRL is Mark Hamill (CORVETTE SUMMER) . He chews a lot of scenery here. Sometimes he lays it on pretty thick but the majority of the time he is amazing. I was getting tired of his shtick but by the third act he was really selling his character. Great stuff. Worth the price of admission alone. Being a low budget film and looking well made was another thing that really impressed me. I believe the budget was only a million dollars I think? I don't know for sure? It definitely looks more expensive than it probably was to make. The icing on the cake was the wonderful cameos from Grade A B-Movie actors like Danny Trejo, Jeff Fahey, and Michael Biehn.

My only complaint which is going to sound like a nit pick is one of the films music cues. The director of SUSHI GIRL should spend some time in Movie Jail for using the song 'Diamonds Are Forever' during the opening credits. I know DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER isn't the best James Bond 007 film but this type of borrowing just feels wrong,something you just don't do unless you know 100% that you're going to do it better. It didn't work for me. Gutsy move in my opinion.

Time will tell if SUSHI GIRL will become a cult classic or just be remembered as a Tarantino rip-off. It's definitely an homage but to call it a rip-off is way too easy and obvious. There are far worse rip-offs, far far worse.

If you like heist and or exploitation films then I rate SUSHI GIRL a must see.