Movies Watched The Week of 5/18 - 5/24

Alright gang, a shorter week than usual.  Been a bit busy.  But next week should be a bit busier, if only for the holiday.  There may only be three movies, but boy are the special for the most part.  So give a quick read through and I thank you guys again for the views.

Joe Kidd (May 19th, 2014)

Director: John Sturges

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, and John Saxon

In his first role post after Dirty Harry elevated him to superstardom, Clint returns to the western.  And while it isn't the best movie he's done in the genre, it's a fun romp with Clint playing an ornery rancher who gets roped into a vigilante hunt for a mexican revolutionary.  Duvall is heading up the hunt and he is a nasty piece of work, a rich landowner who wants to kill the mexican so he can make more money.  Saxon is the revolutionary, a man who isn't 100 percent committed to his cause but has noble intentions.  It's written by Elmore Leonard so it's got humor and stupid criminals.  Clint is great as usual and the story is fine and simple.  It never reaches greatness but it is a fun way to pass the time.  

Rating: 8/10

The Sting (May 22nd, 2014)
Director: George Roy Hill
Starring: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw, and Eileen Brennan

Now this is a movie that deserves all the love it gets.  In my opinion, this is the best of the Redford/Newman collabs.  Just a fun, smart and breezy movie that kept me glued to the screen the whole time.  This is like Oceans Eleven, a group of famous guys just having a fun time in an elaborate con.  After his friend and fellow con man gets killed, Redford teams up with Newman to take down the man who ordered it (Shaw).  A very elaborate game unfolds but there is just an overwhelming sense of fun that pervades the movie.  Newman is having a blast in the movie and it's a joy to watch.  Redford is Redford, old reliable.  And Shaw is great fun as the crime boss who they're after, menacing but with a bit of bluster.  And the end is just perfection, everything coming together to satisfy everyone.  I did not expect I would like the movie this much, but crazier shit has happened.  A classic in every sense, I am very glad I watched it.

Rating: 10/10

X-Men: Days Of Future Past  (May 23rd,2014)
Director: Bryan Singer
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, and Jennifer Lawrence

11 years ago, I went to see X2: X-Men United in the theater with my dad and brother.  It was a great experience and helped plunge me deep into comic book and pop culture fandom.  Bryan Singer is partly responsible for the comic movie boon we are in.  But when he decided to make Superman Returns, Fox said fuck it and let Brett Ratner do Last Stand and it was a bad decision on both ends.  I never thought Singer would return to the series, but he did.  And holy fucking hell did he make a mark with this return.  An absolutely perfect summer blockbuster that pays homage to the past while setting the blocks for the future, all the while being great on its own.  In the future, the earth is in ruins and only a handful of mutants are still standing.  When Xavier and Magneto find out Kitty Pryde can send someones consciousness back in time, they hatch a plan to send Wolverine back 50 years to stop the event that caused this.  When he gets there, he has to unite young Xavier and Magneto to save the future.  But things aren't as easy as they seem.  I won't say anything else but that what Singer does here is simply incredible.  He had formidable chops when he did X2, but he has grown exponentially since.  The visuals and the action is unreal, big without being distracting.  The cast is phenomenal, the standout possibly being Fassbender again.  His Magneto is just fantastic, all intelligent rage at the hatred that his people face.  He plays the role like there's no tomorrow and it pays off.  But then again, everyone in here does.  Jackman is better than ever, same with MacAvoy.  They just elevate their roles, which elevate the movie.  But the best thing is the way the movie plays with the past movies and starts anew.  Everything has happened and they acknowledge it in many a great scene.  It's seriously a powerful experience for those of us who grew with these movies through the highs and lows.  And one last thing.  All the pre release hate towards Quicksilvers looks was useless, because he is fantastic.  The look works in context of the movie and Evan Peters is great.  An absolute blast that makes me worried if Kick Ass can top it, since he seems to not do so well in big budget movies.  All in all, an epic comic book movie that will be hard pressed to be beaten this year.

Rating: 10/10

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched The Week of 5/11 - 5/17

Welcome back gang.  A bit busier week than the last few, I've had the time to watch some more.  And a theme accidentally fell out this week, that of looking back at the past.  From the movies themselves looking back to me looking back at my childhood or movies I haven't seen in a while. And it was a good week, hitting no real shit points.  So dig in and enjoy.  

 The Silence Of The Lambs (May 11th, 2014)

Director: Jonathan Demme

Starring: Jodie Foster, Scott Glenn, Ted Levine, and Anthony Hopkins

It's been a good deal of time since I last saw this.  With Hannibal on NBC just taking hold of my life, I decided I needed to give this a rewatch.  And this movie still hold up and is a pinnacle in the horror genre.  Shit, it's just a highpoint in cinema in general.  The character work, from Foster and Hopkins in particular as well of the supporting guys.  Hopkins gets all the credit here, and it's well deserved.  But the best performance if from Foster.  She brings alot of soul and pain and intelligence to Clarice Starling, much more than anybody else could have.  Foster fully inhabited her and completely helped elevated the movie.  Hopkins is at his scenery chewing best here, portraying Hannibal as a larger than life slice of evil.  But now, I gotta make a controversial call here.  Mads Mikkelsen is the best Hannibal.  I know, it's not fair since Mads has a lot more time to flesh him out on tv wheras Hopkins had about 10 minutes.  But from the word go, Mads took Hannibal in a different direction and made him more dead eyed Satanic.  Thats just me, and its like picking a favorite Batman.  The movie could have been a simple procedural, but Demme directed the shit out of this movie.  The way Friedkin directed The Exorcist like it was a straight up movie and not a B movie, that's what Demme does.  Downright brutal and disturbing without pouring blood and guts everywhere.  This is a damn near perfect movie.  But I have one issue.  Hannibals escape scene is perfectly directed and is a hell of a scene, the iconic scene of the movie.  Yet it has no point being in the movie.  It's a long sequence and it stops the narrative dead in it's tracks, having no effect on anything afterwards.  All we get is a little call at the end, the early 90s version of a Marvel post credits sting.  It's kinda odd that such a good scene is utterly pointless.  But maybe it's so good because Demme knew it stuck out, so he gave it everything he had.  It's a nitpick and doesn't affect my view of the movie at all, as my rating would show.  It still hold up and is one of the most effective movies ever.  

Rating: 10/10

Eraser (May 12th, 2014)
Director: Chuck Russell
Starring: Arnold Schwarzenneger, Vanessa Williams, James Coburn, and James Caan

It's a movie about Arnold fighting corrupt Government goons to stop them from selling brand new laser guns to terrorists.  So yeah, we are in the 90s and this is pretty much critic proof.  It's a goofy movie with Arnold being Arnold.  It's not his best nor is it his worst.  I really don't have much to say.  See it or not.  Just know he fights a CGI crocodile.

Rating: 6.5/10

Godzilla (May 15th, 2014)
Director: Gareth Edwards
Starring: Aaron Taylor Johnson, Ken Watanabe, Sally Hawkins, and Bryan Cranston

This is a movie that seemed like a bad idea from the word go.  We already dealt with an Americanized version in 1998 and it seemed like a lesson was learned.  Apparently not because now we have this.  Thankfully too because this movie is awesome.  It finally got the big man right.  Edwards stepped up and directed the hell out of this movie.  It falls in line with the tone of the original movie, a serious movie thats actually about something other than giving people destruction boners.  Same with this.  Instead of being about the dangers of nuclear bombs, this is more about mother nature and our place in the world.  And Godzilla is mother natures wrath, keeping the balance.  The destruction is off the charts good and the action is great.  But there are two times when the movie trolls the audience by cutting away from a fight scene.  The movie builds up to the reveal of Godzilla which is a weird tactic for a blockbuster today, but it helps out.  Its like Jaws in a sense.  Edwards made this movie very Spielbergian.  Fuck, the main guys name is Ford Brody, the most Spielberg name ever.  So the pace is gonna be off putting for some.  That and the human element is a bit boring.  Cranston stands out, because hes fucking Cranston, and puts alot more effort than necessary.  But Johnson is just a total bore, doing nothing with the role.  He just stands there and makes me nervous for his portrayal of Quicksilver.  Elisabeth Olsen is completely wasted and is utterly useless to the movie.  Watanabe fares better but not much than the rest.  But its fine, because we are here to see monsters fight.  And fight they do.  The weirdest element is that its all CGI, but the monsters still fight like guys in suits.  Its a such an odd yet completely sensible decision. So this is a very watchable movie but its got flaws.  If they worked a bit more on the human elements, it coulda been something special.  But it stands as a damn good movie instead.

Rating: 8.5/10

The Bridges of Madison County (May 16th, 2014)
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood

I haven't seen a movie with Clint in it that I haven't liked.  I haven't liked some of his directed movies, like J Edgar.  But with him in it, I've liked them all.  Maybe not Firefox.  That was eh.  But I'm not the biggest romance movie guy in the world.  They kinda bore me.  But when I say this movie benefits completely from Clint, I say that as a director.  He's good in front of the camera.  But his understated method of directing helps this movie alot.  The script does too, as does Meryl.  But he stops this from going completely too far in an unbearable direction.  He makes it all feel real and it hits harder for it.  That's another reason why I like this movie so much.  It's bittersweet.  It's about chances not taken and love lost.  I also believe the two as people who would fall in love because they feel real and feel like they would, instead of a script just saying they should because writing say they do. It's a low key movie that feels more like a play, and it's a nice change of pace for Clint who specializes in violent movies, especially in the 90s.  I was surprised by how much I like it, and it stands as his second best of the 90s after Unforgiven.

Rating: 9/10

Batman: Year One (May 17th, 2014)
Director: Sam Liu and Lauren Montgomery
Starring: Bryan Cranston, Ben McKenzie, Eliza Dushku, and Jon Polito

This is a movie that kinda doesn't work as a movie, and that flaw is inherited from the source material.  There's no real narrative flow, just a look at Batmans first year on the job.  Which works in the comics, but in a movie it's a bit odd.  The guy who also voices Batman is a bit stilted at times.  But it's fine, because like the novel, this is Gordons movie.  And you got Cranston bringing Gordon to life and he brings the goods.  This is a movie with great scenes but it doesn't congeal into a whole.  It's far from bad but not the best DC animated has done.  I'd still give it a look.

Rating: 8/10

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched week of 5/4 - 5/10

Work has been hectic again folks, so we got another short week.  But I wanna welcome you back briefly for the newest post.  It's a B movie kinda week, with two comic book movie, a comedy and a crime flick.  Not to say they are all bad (one is).  But nothing here that screams high art or even Awards winning elements.  But I mainline that shit, so I loved this week for the most part.  Just straight entertainment.  So sit back and read on whatever media reader you got.  Share if you don't mind and thanks for the view.

Son of Batman (May 7th, 2014)

Director: Ethan Spaulding

Starring: Jason O'Mara, Stuart Allan, Morena Baccarin, and Thomas Gibson

DC owns animation. This isn't really a personal thing, even though I am a big DC fan.  It's really just in volume and quality of their output that spanks Marvel in the field.  Ever since Bruce Timm changed the game in 1992, it's been smooth sailings.  And now that their straight to video movies have become a staple of their line, it's almost an event in and off itself when one comes out.  We already had Justice League: War this year, which was a damn good entry and based off the Geoff Johns written storyline.  So now we got the next entry, Son of Batman, based in part off of the beginning of Grant Morrisons epic storyline.  We find out that in his adventures with the League of Assassins and the Al Ghuul family, Bruce sired a child with Talia.  He didn't know he was a father, until Talia and the child Damian come to him for help, after Slade Wilson aka Deathstroke declares war for leadership of the League.  So with Damian under his wing, Bruce has to learn how to be a father and stop a ruthless mercenary from destroying his newly discovered progeny.  Damian has been a divisive figure since his addition to the Bat mythos, but I've been a big fan.  He is a condescending, violent little prick who thinks he's the best thing in the world.  So, basically a little kid.  But I like the idea of giving Batman a son, especially one that is programmed to kill.  Bruce has been programmed in his own way too, thinking he'd always be alone and having no family because he is too dedicated to being Batman.  He couldn't be there for a family, but with Damian he can.  He can have the best of both worlds.  But it's a tricky act for him, being such an emotional fucking cripple.  The story here is changed a good bit from the book Morrison did, but it's interesting.  Deathstroke is a new addition to the story but a welcome one.  The voice cast is great all around.  O'Mara isn't Kevin Conroy, but he does the job very well.  Allan brings the game as Damian, nailing the snide little shit aspect of the character.  Baccarin has Talia match up with Bruce, adding a feminine side to the terrorist.  And Gibson may be the under valued addition here, bringing a very warranted clinical detachment to Slade, playing him almost like a robot until he loses it.  The movie is a bit short and I wanted more time to spend with Bruce and Damian, but I feel like more is on the way in the coming years between the two.  The movie is also surprisingly violent, not shying away from the awful reality of the story being told.  Slade is trying to kill a 10 year old boy and the boy is a killer himself.  It's a very adult approach to the story that is welcome, without crossing over into over the top territory.  Visually the movie is great as has been the case with DC for the most part (some character models in Flashpoint Paradox irritated me).  Overall this is another solid entry in DCs line, never reaching the heights of The Dark Knight Returns or Flashpoint Paradox.  But for those who want solid animated offerings, you could do much worse.  

Rating: 8/10

City of Men (May 8th, 2014)
Director: Paulo Morelli
Starring: Douglas Silva, Darlan Cunha, Rodrigo Dos Santos, Jonathan Haagensen


Being a spiritual sequel to City of God, this movie was essentially doomed to live in it's shadow.  City of God is one of the best movies ever made, one of the handful of perfect fucking movies.  So it's unfair, but it has to be said.  This doesn't come close to that movie.  But luckily, it's not a bad movie by any means.  It's a very good movie that distances itself enough from that other movie.  A movie about growing up, fatherhood and loyalty this movie was right up my alley.  We see two young men on the cusp of adulthood in the slums of Brazil.  One is a young father as he struggles with that responsibility, while the other is searching for the father who abandoned him.  In the background of this is a brewing gang war that blows up and brings truths and tensions out between the two boys.  I think the biggest thing holding this movie back is the short running time.  The movie could have been fleshed out more.  The gang war kinda just happens and it doesn't feel like a choice they made.  It feels like scenes were deleted to keep the time short.  Whereas City of God was a long movie that didn't feel it, it used it's run time to give us everything.  Nothing was left on the floor and everything made sense.  Not to say this movie is a mess or anything, but it could have been fleshed out more.  The plot never reaches any brilliant heights, it stays consistent throughout, a bleak look at these peoples lives.  The acting is decent throughout, the kids having moments of showing that they aren't at the peak of the acting game.  It's a good movie, a nice companion to City of God.  But it will not go down as a classic.  A decent watch, I recommend it as an appetizer to City of God.

Rating: 8/10

Neighbors (May 10th, 2014)
Director: Nicholas Stoller
Starring: Seth Rogen, Rose Byrne, Zac Efron, and Dave Franco

I think it is now safe to say that Zac Efron actually has some talent.  Trying for years to not only shed the Disney label he had (not in the Miley Cyrus way of being an annoying asshole in the most transparently look at me way) but to prove he has acting chops aside from his looks.  And while I won't say he reached the heights nor is capable of doing what Kurt Russell did 34 years ago in Used Cars, he shows that with some real film makers he might be a welcome addition to cinema.  And teaming up with Seth Rogen is a good way to show off your stuff.  When a fraternity moves next door to a married couple (Rogen and Byrne) with a new born baby, a war breaks out for dominance over the block.  The movie is funny, with everyone getting some moments to shine.  But the real highlight of the movie is Rose Byrne.  She steals the show, being as gloriously filthy and downright fiendish as the men in the movie.  There are some dry spots in the movie, but the don't kill the movie in it's tracks because the movie is relatively short.  It moves at a good speed.  But it really stands out because of Efron, whose character is like the fraternity version of Max Cady.  He feels betrayed and he is gonna make the couple pay.  The end of the movie shows the lunacy in him and it's kinda scary.  It'll be interesting to see where he goes after this on his resume.  While this is a step down from Rogens last movie, This is The End, it is a solid comedy outing that makes the slow movie year a little more bearable.

Rating: 7.5/10

Batman Forever (May 10th, 2014)
Director: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Val Kilmer, Chris O'Donnell, Jim Carrey, and Tommy Lee Jones

Listening to Kevin Smiths Podcast, Fatman on Batman, made me realize I haven't seen this movie in a very long time.  At least 10 years.  I remember liking it as a 5 year old kid, but growing up and realizing it sucked.  But it has gotten the rep over the time as a misjudged little movie.  Not great or anything, but not a trainwreck.  So I felt I needed to see it again to see where I fall.  And while it isn't the utter trainwreck I remember, it still has so many terrible god damn elements I don't even know why people try to stick up for it.  It really is like The Amazing Spiderman 2.  Val Kilmer is kind of atrocious in this, signaling the meteoric fall from grace after dominating the early 90s.  He plays Batman like he mentally retarded or something, which is just irritating.  He always seems confused by what's around him, like he's a fucking pod person.  Chris O'Donnell is completely miscast as Dick Grayson.  Even if they felt Dick needed to be older, O'Donnell just can't make the material land.  Granted, the material he has is awful.  But he can't pull of petulant rebel or grieving son.  Tommy Lee Jones is just terrible, in a role with a performance he shouldn't be giving.  He doesn't seem like the guy to play over the top villainy and it shows.  Two Face should be a great role for an actor, playing the duality of Harvey Dent.  But Jones just yells alot and tries to be as big as possible.  Which is impossible, as he is paired up with Jim Carrey.  But Carrey actually does some decent work.  He goes big but for the most part, it works.  There are times though when he falls over the cliff and just looks like a dickhead, he makes Nygma work in this world.  Nicole Kidman is in the movie for some damn reason and she has nothing of worth to do.  She's just eye candy, a reason to have Batman quit for 5 minutes.  Like the two Burton Bat movies, the plot is barely existent, showing up with 30 minutes left because it's an action movie and we need a climax.  And oh, the climax sucks.  It's so bad.  But in the end, somehow the movie isn't unwatchable.  At least, not like Batman & Robin.  If there's one thing that this movie does better than Burtons stuff, it was making sure that Batman wasn't a serial killer.  No more punching guys in the dick with a bomb and throwing them down a man hole.  At least this team knew the one defining trait for Batman is he doesn't kill.  At all.  No questions about it.  So, this movie is watchable in a bad 90s action movie way.  But make no fucking mistake.  This is a bad movie and an absolute affront to much of the Batman mythos. It's these 90s movies that make me love the Nolan movie, even The Dark Knight Rises.  It may make changes, but it falls more in line with Batman.  And they work as movies.  These 90s movies don't.

Rating: 5/10

 - Tom Lorenzo

The Raid 2

Action movies at face value seem like the easiest genre to get right.  Yet year in and year out, we see that is not the case.  From the studios misguided idea that PG 13 movies do better (despite the action movies with the most life after theatrical release being R rated fare like Die Hard and The Warriors), to the absolutely awful trend of the shaky cam that was shat onto the world with Paul Greengrass coming aboard The Bourne Supremacy, and the over reliance on tacky CGI to the work instead of hard hitting practical effects. 

The PG-13 angle doesn’t fall completely onto the studios, seeing as the MPAA is quite insane and almost nonsensical in the ratings it throws out.  The Crazies remake has almost no graphic violence even though blood is spilled, yet gets a PG13 because the violence doled out is against humans.  But The Lord of The Rings movies get PG13s because the violence is against fantastical creatures and the violence is dry.  The system allows violence to be shown, but the harder the violence hits, the more likely it will need to be cut down.  For movies they know won’t have as huge an audience, they’ll let some crazy shit slide.  That’s why The Evil Dead remake has a scene of a demon getting face fucked by a chainsaw in full view.  But you’ll never see Thor crush someones skull open like a melon, because more people are gonna see that and someones gotta look after the childrens. 

The shaky cam bullshit is just film makers following a trend that allows them to get away with doing less impressive fight choreography to save some time.  So for those who yearn for the days of John McClane picking glass out of his bloody feet, the pickings are slim in this country.  But luckily, international film making is more easily accessible than ever before.  And there is some great stuff being done over seas.  

One of the most iconic movies of the last 15 years is a Korean action film, 

Oldboy.  It isn’t the biggest balls to the wall action movie ever, but it has one of the iconic fights in cinema history.  A single take fight set in a hallway as our protagonist takes on a swarm of thugs.  It has captured the imagination of film fans world wide and stands in stark contrast to the incomprehensible garbage that is released every year.  The Asian marketplace has always been a haven for action fans, and the times haven’t done much to change that.  From classics such as The Man From Nowhere to The Good, The Bad, and The Weird, Asia has been doing the lords work. Despite that, they haven’t had much of an impact over here.  But from the barren cinematic depths of Indonesia, Action movies may have just found a new savior.  And he is Welsh.

Gareth Evans made some waves in 2009 when he made a run of the mill Kung Fu movie titled Merantau.  What set this apart wasn’t the story, but the kinetic yet fluid way he shot the action.  It helped that he was using the almost unseen on film fighting style called Silat, and his star was Silat master Iko Uwais.  But maybe it was a fluke.  Plenty of DTV action movies over here accidentally have good action scenes.  So he needed to prove himself.  And he came to the table hard with the ground breaking 2011 action movie, The Raid.  Completely economic in its storytelling, it tells the simple tale of a cop (Rama as played by Iko Uwais) accompanying fellow cops going into a building used for criminal activities to try to drag his brother out from the world he fell into.  It’s almost wall to wall action and it is all brilliantly staged, shot and choreographed.  It truly felt like the language of action cinema was changing right in front of our eyes.  After a brief foray into horror with a short segment in V/H/S 2 entitled Safe Haven, Gareth set to work on making a sequel to his action classic.  How does one replicate the success of what was seen as a seminal part of action cinema?  Gareth had an answer.  Do something completely different. After a massive 100 day shooting schedule, Gareth revealed The Raid 2: Berandal to the world in 2014.  And to say that the reaction was positive is quite the understatement. 

Instead of following the minimal narrative of The Raids video game esque format of fighting through levels till the boss, The Raid 2 decides to go completely dense with it’s story.  Following Rama’s journey into prison to go undercover to root out police corruption, he is sucked into a gang war that has more at stake than the control of Indonesia’s underworld.  Rama’s very soul is on the line.  The movie is choked full with characters and motivations that need to followed, leading to a need to pay attention at every aspect of the experience and not just the violence.  It helps that the story is worth a damn.  

Rama is infused with a lot more character in this one.  Whereas in the original he was a typical good guy badass looking to protect his family, this one sees Rama taken to the breaking point.  Being forced to go undercover to root out police corruption to keep his family safe, Rama has to go to prison in a gamble to get close to a crime lords son and get in with them.  Forced into hell on Earth, Rama has to fight what seems like the entire prison to keep the son, Uco, safe.  And it pushes him into some brutal territory.  Brutal far beyond what he did in the last one.  He has to maim people to survive.  And after a while, it starts to take a toll on his mind.  After getting out of prison and getting in with Ucos father, we see he can’t completely shake off the experiences he felt in the pen.  With each skirmish, Rama is getting nastier.  But the war in his soul is visible on his face.  He doesn’t like it, but he’ll die if he stops.  Evans made a very ballsy move in making an action movie that features unprecedented action and violence, yet has the theme run through it that violence is poisonous.  He almost rubs it in our faces that you shouldn’t be enjoying this.  It’s way more thoughtful than a movie like this should be. 

The narrative wouldn’t be so interesting if Rama was the only interesting one in a movie with such a large cast, and Evans doesn’t disappoint in that regard.  For the most part, he employs the Walter Hill style of character building.  Give people a defining trait and a great moment or two.  This movie has the hobo assassin with a machete, to the deaf female assassin who uses claw hammers, to the baseball bat wielding manaic, and finally the curved knife wielding Silat master.  These are all broadly drawn characters that are brought to life by the actors employed, and by the iconic nature of their traits.  We can tell Hammer Girl and Baseball bat guy are related and have seen and done some awful things in their lives, all the while acting like they are still children.  The hobo only cares for his family and would rather live a life of isolation, violence and depravity so they can be taken care of.  And the Silat master is clearly a parallel to Rama.  Uco is the one who gets drawn more clearly, essentially the second lead of the movie.  A spoiled little brat who has a high opinion of himself, he could have come off as an irritating cliche.  But Evans does the smart thing.  Uco isn’t completely useless.  He holds his own in prison.  When trying to be taken advantage of, he figures it out without being told.  It’s only his blind ambition that brings him down.  Evans makes a huge leap in terms of story telling that solidifies himself as the young director to watch out for.  So while he stepped up the game in the story, he couldn’t possibly top the action of the original, could he?

Gareth more than topped the originals action, he burned it to the ground and pissed on it’s ashes.  With a much bigger budget and a production schedule to allow him time to plan more elaborate set pieces, Evans threw the gauntlet down on movies with budgets 10 times the size of his.  From an opening fight scene in a bathroom stall, to a prison riot, all the way down to the brilliantly staged finale that is in itself almost a short story with twists and turns.  Gareth and his longtime DP Matt Flannery collaborated to completely redefine how action is shot.  Using handheld cameras to enhance the brutality on display, he manages to keep the camera moving without ever being unclear.  The action is always front and center, every blow being felt and every drop of blood being captured.  John Woo was praised for making his action scenes like ballets, Evans takes that to the next level.  The camera dances while Uwais and the other master fighters do their thing.  It is truly astonishing to behold and this may very well be ground zero for a new age of action.  

While he redefined close quarters combat, his new budget gave him the ability to shoot a car chase.  And we know Evans isn’t content with doing the norm, he went big with the chase.  And not Nolan in Gotham big.  Unique and innovative is the name of the game.  Involving one SUV that has a 4 man fight going on inside of it while being chased by a bunch of other cars and a motorcycle, Evans did something unthinkable.  He filmed it with practical effects.  Cars chasing cars on the real streets.  It all comes to a head in the jaw dropping single take that goes from car to car to car with no digital trickery.  Men hanging off cars and passing a camera back and forth while a fight is taking place, doing 40 MPH.  It’s unbelievable.  Evans managed to also add a car chase that is now in the top 5 of all time.  

For those that are bored by action movies nowadays, Evans is a god send.  A few years ago he may not have much impact, but in such an interconnected world, every film maker knows him.  The world is not blind to him.  So while he has no plans to come stateside, his influence is going to be felt.  When an aging icon like Sylvester Stallone name drops your movie as an influence for his next movie, it’s going to be hard to ignore.  Now, only time will tell.  The movie only came out this year, so the next year or so may not see the influence.  But it’s those late 2015 and beyond movies to look forward to.  Action scenes can’t be saved by Zack Snyder alone.  He’s tried.  It’s now Gareth Evans’ turn, and he is more than able for the task.  

- Tom Lorenzo

Movies Watched The Week of 4/27 - 5/3

A really short week gang, that jumps into many different levels of success.  One is good, one is eh, one is great, and the other is abysmal.  Work is keeping me busy, so the weeks may look more like this from now on.  But I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading, whoever the hell you 10 are.

 Dark Star (April 27th, 2014)

Director: John Carpenter
Starring: Brian Narelle, Carl Kuniholm, Dre Pahich, and Dan O'Bannon

John Carpenter may be my favorite director.  The man I want to be more than any other, maybe Tarantino or Leone.  So I've been looking for this, his first movie, for a while now.  So having finally gotten a hold of a copy and watching it, I can say I'm glad I saw it but will probably never watch it again.  It's a good first movie, essentially a student film stretched out with some good FX pre Star Wars. But there is a loose quality to the movie, barely feeling like a movie for the most part.  Scenes happen and then it ends.  It's got a weird little sense of humor and a game cast, but everyone is fresh and not really doing anything special.  Even Carpenter shows his rookie side, though showing brief flashes of the man who knew how to perfectly use a camera.  It's not a bad movie in any sense, it's just a light movie that kickstarted Carpenters career and Dan O'Bannon, the man who helped created Alien.  If you're curious to see where Carpenter started, you won't be irritated.   

Rating: 6/10

Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm (April 28th, 2014)
Director: Bruce Timm and Eric Radomski
Starring: Kevin Controy, Dana Delaney, Hart Bochner and Mark Hamill


Bruce Timm and his crew have made a career out of making cartoons out of DC properties and making iconic versions of them and some of the best damn cartoons ever.  And it all started with Batman: The Animated Series.  Dominating TV for alittle over a year, they were allowed to make a big screen movie of the show.  And they knocked the motherfucker out of the park.  A bit darker and much more epic in scope than the show could have done, Mask is a murder mystery, noir and action movie rolled into one perfect fucking package.  Seriously, I can't stress how good this damn movie is.  Every aspect is great.  The two stars of the show, the definitive portrayals of their respective characters, Kevin Conroy as Batman and Mark Hamill as Joker are legendary.  They bring an amazing level of gravitas and dedication to add a lot of legitimacy to the proceedings.  I'm not gonna talk about any plot stuff so as to keep it all fresh for anyone.  A damn good flick that stands in stark contrast to another comic flick I watched this week.

Rating: 10/10

The Mummy (April 30th, 2014)
Director: Karl Freund
Starring: Boris Karloff, Zita Johann, David Manners, Edward Van Sloan

Another good flick coming at you from the Universal monsters, this time in the form of The Mummy.  It's got the same basic premise as the remake, but it's not an imbecilic yet enjoyable action movie.  It's a low key horror as was the case in the old days, with the horror either being off screen or more existential.  Karloff is his usual great self at bringing some humanity to what could be an empty vessel.  The rest of the cast is really good too, specifically Johann who manages to stand out as a strong woman in a time dominated by men.  This isn't the best movie Universal did with monsters, but it's a damn good time and a nice way to see how the genre progressed.

Rating: 8/10

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (May 2nd, 2012)
Director: Marc Webb
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Emma Stone, Jamie Foxx and Dane DeHaan

Where Mask of The Phantasm was a showcase for a group of creators who know and love the characters, this movie is a showcase for the opposite.  A complete misunderstanding of the characters, lore, and just basic movie making.  I honestly thought we were past the absolute mishandling of comic characters.  This feels like it belongs in the 90s, fucking up the franchise the way Batman Forever/& Robin did.  There is no plot.  Jamie Foxx shows up as a new age version of The Riddler from Batman Forever, with the new skin of Electro.  Electro is a nonsensical character with no believable motivations and no importance to the movie.  Cut him out, the movie is almost exactly the same.  Dane DeHaan is out at sea with a terribly written character and a performance that shows the director has no idea what to do.  His turn into the Goblin is a joke and, again, makes no sense.  The bullshit with Peters parents continues into this movie, making even less sense and just building to a bullshit reasoning for their actions.  But the worst thing is, Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone really work.  Their chemistry is off the charts and they make the relationship work the same way they did in the first one.  But the writing is so atrocious, they decide to make Peter into Superman from Superman Returns.  He stalks Gwen.  It's a fucking joke.  Garfield is great as Spidey, but the way Peter is written he can't do anything to save it.  The movie is a mess and the future of the series is bleak, since this whole damn thing was a commercial for the sequels.  Hell, Paul Giamatti shows up for 5 minutes to set up the movies in the most blatant way possible.  An absolute embarassment for the most part, skip at all costs.  Lets hope Marvel gets him back at some point.

Rating: 4/10

- Tom Lorenzo

Top Ten Movies From The UK

There's a little secret I need to tell you guys.  America isn't the only place that makes movies.  Crazy, right?  Yes, many a countries do the movies.  Some have real good ones too!  So me and the usual crew have decided to make a list of the 10 best from a country closely related to our own, the drooling dandies that couldn't keep a hold of the raging beast that is Americas need to fight something.  Yes, I'm talking about the good ole, second place UK.  They are arranged in descending order so read on ahead.  Fair warning.  I haven't seen every British movie, being as I'm not British.  So take the list without however many grains of salt you want.  But there's enough range here I feel to be a good list.  Feel free to check out the lists of the crew, my fellows Josh Paige and Mike Natale, for their lists on the subject as well.  And at the bottom of the list is a poll for the next list we will do, it's entirely up to you (rhymes).  So continue on, and enjoy.  

10. In Bruges

Director: Martin McDonagh 

Starring: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and Ralph Fiennes

This movie is just a blast of fun.  If I only had to give one reason why it was on here, it's that.  Just a completely hilarious black comedy.  But a little more on the subject is necessary I guess.  The movie is written, directed and acted perfectly.  Following two hitmen on a forced retirement after a botched job, we see them as they interact with the locals of Bruges.  Farrell is just on fire, proving he has more to him than his looks while Gleeson is just perfect as the grizzled older hitman who tries to mentor Farrell.  Things don't go so well when boss Ralph Fiennes shows up and all comedic yet heartbreaking hell breaks loose.  A moral ambiguous picture about dealing with guilt and past mistakes, it manages to do something most movies find hard.  That's finding a balance between being funny and emotional without falling too deeply into one side, or not being as adept at one or the other.  It was a total surprise when I saw it and has stuck with me too this day.

9. Snatch

Director: Guy Ritchie

Starring: Jason Statham, Vinnie Jones, Dennis Farina, and Brad Pitt

There is nothing more going on underneath this movie.  This is all surface level but it is such a rollicking good time, the British version of a Tarantino movie.  Filled with a bunch of memorable characters played by great actors, the movie never stops.  It's at it's core, a movie about a diamond heist/missing diamond.  Guy Ritchie made a splash with Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels but this is where he really broke out.  He is on fire here, keeping everything going and somehow being convoluted but not a mess.  When the movie ends, you get it.  It all comes together.  It's not some uber complicated, deep soul searching mystery.  This is a movie that is just pure fun, the only movie like that on the list.  Even if the rest of the movie sucked, it would be worth it for Brad Pitt as the mumbling gypsy.

8. A Clockwork Orange

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick McGee, and Michael Bates

I'm not gonna lie.  I have no idea how to write about this movie.  On one hand, I don't really love it like I do the two movies it ranks higher than.  But on the other hand, it is still a movie with an insane amount of power that still has the capability to shock an audience.  Set in a distant future, kids are basically running free and are just a bunch of little shits.  Following Alex DeLarge as he leads his own little gang of cocks, or Droogs as he calls them, we see how evil these bastards are.  But when he gets arrested, the government takes drastic steps to change him.  They essentially rewire his brain to have a killer migraine whenever he thinks of doing something bad.  An oddly prescient movie about kids being able to do what they want cause parents just have no control and don't really care.  It also deals with the politicos using this kid, an asshole of an extreme measure he may be, for their own gains no matter what it does to him.  And it also tackles the idea of free will by way of a piece of trash.  Kubrick forces us to really consider the idea of free will and if it's worth a damn by showing Alex be abused and basically tortured to try and be "good" which is against his very nature.  It's a very challenging movie and one I admire very much.  But it's a movie I'll never love, same with Kubricks other movies.  There's always something that rubs me the wrong way.  Then again, that might be the point.  Either way, it's important and deserves to be mentioned here.

7. 28 Days Later

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Naomi Harris, Brendan Gleeson, and Christopher Eccleston 

The zombie sub genre of horror had been stuck in place for what seems like forever, the typically slow and shambling monsters.  Not that they were all bad or anything.  But there was no change.  So Danny Boyle decided to say fuck it and make a movie that changes it up.  Instead of a small little movie set in one location, it follows a group in a movie that plays more like an outbreak thriller than a zombie movie.  But the biggest change of all comes from the portrayal of zombies as running and snarling beasts.  People like to bitch and say they aren't zombies, they are just infected with a virus.  Which I counter with, "So a fucking a zombie?".  But this movie brings a dirty and gritty documentary-esque style to the zombie movie, so it feels all the more real and creepy when Cillian is standing in front of Big Ben and no one else is around.  Boyle directs the hell out of this movie, bringing the scares and the thrills.  Equally entertaining and scary.  It's a big game changer of a movie and even though I have some issues with how the third act unfolds, I dig what it was trying to do, it still deserves a mention as it changed and revitalized a genre.

6. Skyfall

Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, and Javier Bardem

As the universe would have it, a movie that every Bond fan was not anticipating after the mess that was Quantum of Solace ends up being the best Bond movie.  Is it the most iconic?  No, nothing in the franchise will ever reach the iconography of Connerys era.  But as a Bond movie, and just a movie in general, it is the best one in simple terms.  It is a movie about James Bond and his place in the world, looking back at his history and his future.  It finishes off the story of Bond becoming Bond that was started in Casino Royale and ignored in Solace.  Mendes, an obvious fan, brings his A game that has been missing for a while.  He nails the tone a Bond movie needs to have while molding it into the Craig era, so it's gritty and action packed and has real stakes but it also has fun and has a sense of humor.  Craig is at his best here, finally able to play the Bond the end of Royale hinted at.  Not to mention getting Bardem as maybe the best bad guy in the series, maybe only beaten by Robert Shaw in From Russia With Love.  He's the Joker for the Bond series, the twisted inversion of Bond and what he could become if he doesn't look out.  It's a beautiful damn movie, not surprising as it was shot by Roger Deakins.  It's honestly the pinnacle of the series and it brings the franchise full circle, with Bond back in that office from Dr No, about to get orders from the new and male M.  Bond is back and the UKs most iconic movie franchise gets its due.

5. Trainspotting

Director: Danny Boyle

Starring: Ewan McGregor, Jonny Lee Miller, Kelly Macdonald, and Robert Carlyle 

Danny Boyle is back with a tale of a bunch of degenerate shits, a group of Scottish junkies.  Following Ewan as Renton, we fall down the rabbit hole of nastiness.  It really is just an absolute filthy looking and feeling movie.  These guys are all fucked up.  Some may not be evil, but they have so many issues that they just don't care what they have to do.  It's really set up perfectly with Renton sticking his hand down a shit filled toilet looking for the drugs he accidentally shat out of his ass he had hidden up there.  The movie has fun and is a breezy movie with plenty of hilarious moments, but it'll go dark.  So dark it really took me by surprise.  It doesn't get much darker than a baby dying.  Boyle again is on fire here, directing like his life depends on it.  The acting is superb, Ewan giving maybe his best performance.  Everyone brings there A game, even if it can be nearly impossible to hear them with their working class Scottish accents.  This is a movie that hits hard and leaves you feeling rotten.  It doesn't reach Requiem For A Dream level nastiness (thank fuck), but it isn't a fun ride by the end.  As dark as dark comedies get, it more than deserves its placement here.

4. The Bridge On The River Kwai
Director: David Lean
Starring: Alec Guinness, William Holden and Jack Hawkins

David Lean has made many movies before he tackled this legendary epic.  But this is a big leap and the sign of where he was gonna go with his film making and the mark he was gonna leave on cinema.  Tackling a story about POWs during WWII and the British way of getting the job done right, Lean makes a very epic yet human story.  Lean takes his time, letting everything sink in.  You get a feel for the place and the people.  He gets great performances out of the cast, specifically from Alec Guiness.  Guiness is iconic as the British officer who sticks to the rules explicitly and feels that a job should be done to the highest standards, even if it's done by force.  The fact that Lean made a close to 3 hour movie set during a war with almost no action, yet keep it totally engrossing is an amazing feat.  A movie this powerful, this masterfully made from top to bottom doesn't come around often.  So of course it has to show up on this list.

3. The Cornetto and Blood Trilogy

Director: Edgar Wright

Starring: Simon Pegg and Nick Frost

I cheated here and put three movies into one slot, but there is a reason.  This thematic trilogy of buddy comedies set in genre films with hearts of gold round out the three best comedies from the UK.  Hell, these three are some of the best in the world.  From taking on zombie, action movies, and invasion stories the trio at the helm here tackle what it means to grow up and the various friendships and relationships that one has to go through as they age.  The best of the bunch in my opinion is Shaun of The Dead, a perfect movie that still keep me laughing the entire time.  Hot Fuzz is hilarious but doesn't hit me as hard as it comes with a bit of fat on it.  Then there's The World's End, a funny fucking movie that loses steam in the third act.  But I won't go and say none of them are good.  They're great.  No embarrassing moments in the trio.  Edgar Wright proves his worth as a director through and through, maturing through each one.  If it wasn't for Gareth Evans, Wright would be the best at shooting close quarters combat.  Pegg made a name for himself in these roles and proves why he is a top tier comedian.  And Frost is the best sidekick, playing the loveable idiot and the straight man throughout the trilogy.  These are comedies at peak form, advancing the genre and making a mark on the industry.  True works of fucking art.

2. The Wind That Shakes The Barley

Director: Ken Loach

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, and Orla Fitzgerald

This is a movie that is purely a personal pick. Personal in the fact that movies about the relationship between brothers usually gets to me.  Set during the hey day of the IRA and the fight against Britain for Irish freedom, this movie hit all the right buttons for me.  The cast is great, featuring Cillian's finest performance IMO.  Ken Loach directs with a firm hand, making everything real yet dramatic enough to sustain interest.  It's a visually gorgeous movie and makes me ache for a Blu Ray release of this.  It's a heartbreaking movie that needs to be seen by all.  It's an under the radar gem and I love every second of it.  A true powerhouse and deserves its place.

1. Lawrence Of Arabia

Director: David Lean

Starring: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn, and Omar Shariff 

Not only is this movie the best fucking movie to come out of the UK, it's one one of the best damn movies anywhere.  It's a masterpiece of epic proportions that David Lean was apparently building to his entire career.  Epic is almost too small a word to describe this.  Momentous or game changing is the more apt.  This is film making at peak form.  Not many have outpaced the directing, acting, cinematography, story or impact of this movie.  And even fewer have merged them into one.  Lean lays down his legacy and could have walked away right after.  Peter O'Toole gives one of, if not, the best performance ever in his first God damned leading role.  Following the adventures of the famed TE Lawrence, this movie is just filled with the emotions and the feeling that this is something unseen before or after.  I don't have much to say that hasn't come before or can fit in anything even remotely brief enough for a list, so I'll just end it with this.  Cinema today would be a much different and very worse place without this movie.  A tour de force.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey , the world's leading questionnaire tool.

- Tom Lorenzo