Battle: Los Angeles Review!!!

If you read this blog at all you will know that I don't make to the theater all too often.  My wife and I were discussing what the last movie we saw was and I think it was The Expendables.  All too many times I will see a trailer and get all hyped up.  Tell the wife we are going to see that and then eventually just wait for the dvd release.  This was not one of those movies!  If you don't know what Battle: Los Angeles is then you can watch the trailer here.  I will do my best to keep this review as spoiler free as possible.  To sum this movie up in one sentence I would have to say, "It kicks ass all over the place!"

If you have ever seen the trailer or any of the commercials being played on tv recently you know that this is about an alien invasion of Los Angeles.  The movie stars Two Face Aaron Eckhart, Lostie Michelle Rodriguez, Ne-Yo, and Transformer 2 alumni Ramon Rodriguez.  The film was directed by Johnathan Liebesman.  Johnathan also directed Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning and Darkness Falls.  Battle does not fall anywhere near the previous two films thank God!

We'll start off with the story.  Honestly, another generic storyline that we have seen over a hundred times in the past ten years.  Nothing really new and original here.  Aliens show up in our atmosphere out of nowhere and begin to attack earth.  There you go.  Nothing more.  Nothing less.  Through out the film you are given a short answer to why and are left at that.  No deep dwelling into the physics of this thing.  No major explanations and common sense scheme to the film.  Plain and simple.  Aliens are here and we follow a platoon of soldiers on a rescue mission in Santa Monica to extract civilians from a local police station.  This film is a nerd's eye candy.  I read another review saying it was a cross between the video games Call of Duty and Gears of War.  I can see that.  It is filmed half the time from a first person perspective.  It's gritty and you are in the middle of the action and explosions with the aliens shooting at you from all different angles.

Aaron Eckhart is SSgt. Michael Nantz.  We find him at the beginning of the film ready to retire from 20 years of being in the marines.  Having lost his platoon in an earlier tour of Afghanistan he wants out.  He is haunted by the memories and is ready to move on.  The day before the alien invasion he finishes training his last group of freshman marines to be deployed to Afghanistan.  When the invasion begins he is forced come back and serve under a young, brand new 2nd Lt. William Martinez played by Ramon Rodriguez.  Tension plays into the situation because rumors surround Nantz about his earlier platoon.  One of the marines that is in the new platoon has a brother killed with Nantz in Afghanistan and holds resentment to him.

As you can probably see where I am going with this.  There is tension between Nantz and the young Lt. who is always second guessing himself through the film and the final showdown between Nantz and the brother who is still grieving over his loss.  Is this movie shallow in the emotional and human aspect of the story.  No, I think it gives us enough to care about Eckhart and the young marines.  Granted most of the other characters are just there to fill in the roles and not really that good.  Your watching this movie for Eckhart, Ramon briefly, Michelle Rodriguez and Michael Pena who plays a civilian dad stuck at the police station with his son.  Your not going to cry your eyes out but you will most likely feel some emotion to what is happening.

What really blows this movie out of the water is the special effects.  I haven't watched a movie that looked so real.  The aliens looked alien and not of this world but they didn't look cheesy either. You see them up close and they look cool.  Everything from the major destruction of LA to the alien head quarters looked absolutely amazing!  There were so many explosions in this film.  90% of the film was total non stop action and mayhem.  This is a film that you want to see in the theater because I don't think their is a home theater stereo system that could keep up!

Overall, I left the theater feeling like I watched a good movie and my money wasn't all wasted. That $14 for one drink and a popcorn left a bad taste in my mouth.  Ever wonder why people just pirate movies instead of going to the cinemas?  There ya go people!  Ok, Ok....getting off of my subject. Battle: Los Angeles is a great movie to start the year off with hopefully a ton of good movies.  I recommend it over and over!  Go see this movie for a good time!

The SUPER Trailer has arrived!

Today must be the big day for all of the new trailers out there!  This time around we have the preview for director James Gunn's Super.  James Gunn also directed a very cool film called Slither.  If you have not seen Slither you should totally watch it!  Super stars Rain Wilson, Kevin Bacon, Liv Tyler and Ellen Page.  Rain Wilson seems to really be growing up into a very cool actor and not just the psycho from The Office.  IFC is releasing this film and odds are it will also be on-demand on your cable or satellite provider in the near future.  Enjoy!

Dylan Dog: Dead of Night Trailer

Hey peepz.  Here is a brand spankin new trailer release today.  The film is called Dylan Dog: Dead of Night.  It is based off of a comic book and stars Brandon "Superman" Routh as Dylan.  Kinda cool to see the old school movie monsters with some new age baddies but not really swayed either way on this one.  Also a relief to see Mr. Routh not be tied down to Superman and branching out doing his own thing.  Any thoughts? Post em below!  PS: Be aware you have to sit through a stupid commercial before the trailer loads.

Old School Review: Dreamcatcher

Every once in a while I re-visit a film and it becomes even better than what I had originally remembered it being.  This rings true with Dreamcatcher.  I believe I first saw it when I was living in China then my wife and I watched it a few years back and then last night it came up in line on the Netflix cue.  I could go on forever on how much better the content on Netflix is getting.  I feel like the $10 a month fee is actually worth it.  My only complaint is how random the movies are that are high definition.  You would think that most new releases would be in high def but it is so random that it get's frustrating for people that have high-def televisions.  Fortunately for me this was presented in high-def and looked great at that!  Kuddos to Netflix for what their doing.  Just get everything in HD!  Now, in the voice of the Crypt Keeper, shall we move on to the review?


First and foremost.  This is another one of the countless films that was derived from a Stephen King novel.  I am by far not a big reader of any novels and have never read a King book.  My wife on the other hand is a big fan of his books and I think it is fair to say the films or countless mini series never really stand up to the original material.  Now their are absolutely some of the films that have been made off of his books that have been great.  I personally love Sleepwalkers, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Stand By Me and many others.  I am very much excited to see Ron Howard take on the series The Dark Tower in the near future.  With all of this in mind.  My wife has not read the Dreamcatcher novel so this is coming truly from a movie point of view.

This film was made in 2003 and stars Morgan Freeman, Thomas Jane, Jason Lee, Damian Lewis, Timothy Olyphant, Tom Sizemore and Donny Wahlberg.  The film is directed by Lawrence Kasdan whom also made such films as Silverado and Wyatt Earp.  Interestingly he wrote the screenplays for such films as Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.  It was made for about 68 million only garnering back about 33 million.  I think those estimates would consider it a dud at the box office.

The story is what is so great and gripping about this film.  I am not going to spoil it but I will give you the main points of the film.  Four friends back in the 1970's come across another boy who is mentally handicapped being beaten up by bullies.  The four friends help the boy out and form a special relationship with him.  Duddits, the handicapped boy, has powers unlike anyone has seen and eventually shares them with the boys.  The boys are able to read one another's minds and are able to use their powers to do miracles like find missing children lost in the woods.  Time goes by and the boys are now all adults and Duddits is in a home for the mentally unstable.

With their lives all taking different paths the men still get together once a year at a cabin the backwoods of the northeast to catch up and reminisce.  None of them can ever forget Duddits and seem to be almost obsessed with him and the amazing impact he had on their lives as children.  It is during this time that things seem to take a interesting turn.  Two major snow storms are headed their way.  They begin to notice all of the animals in the woods running past the cabin.  Everything from deer to bears to squirrels and birds.  Things begin to get crazy when the men come across hunters that have been stranded in the woods.  Not only are they sick from the cold but seem to have blood blotches on their skin and something rumbling in their stomachs.  What does all of this have to do with a special boy named Duddits?  Why do the men lead their lives with these special powers not knowing what to do with them?  Is their a bigger purpose?  Why in the middle of the forest are there military helicopters flying around?

The cast is great for this kind of a story.  Each boy/man is their own person from the smart mouth Jason Lee to the more serious Damian Lewis.  Thomas Jane is your lead along with the great Morgan Freeman as the antagonist of the film.  We're not talking break out performances but great for what you are expecting.  I believe this would have to be one of Tom Sizemore's last semi-big films before he completely broke down and let the drugs take over his life.  On a side not, Mark Wahlberg aka New Kid On The Block.  Marky Mark's brother plays the adult version of Duddits and you will not recognize him.  This being my third time and I forgot that he had played that part until I read the credits.  The special effects are cool.  Not too cheesy but not blow you away amazing either.

This is one of those films that you can watch once every six months or share it with a friend and still enjoy it over and over.  It is a unique story and along with fine acting and a great story I would recommend anyone purchase this flick for their film library.  It is suspenseful and has some scary scenes in it so it is not for the kids.  Teenagers should be fine watching it.  I'm interested in hearing how it stands up to the book.  I told my wife I was going to buy it for her.  I am going to embed the trailer below for you to see.  Check it out sometime!

2 movies that you haven't heard of but should!

A single person can only watch so many films a year.  If you watched one per day, every day, that would only be 365 flicks a year.  I watch a s-load but I don't think I watch that many....err, wait.  Ok, maybe I do but I am not your normal person and I have to keep up to let all you know about the good stuff out there!  Which brings me to the point of this article.  I think as a society we miss so many great films from the many different genres there are.  We are persuaded by the film companies and the billions of dollars they spend of advertising and rightfully so.  That's how this business works right?  The sad and unfortunate thing is that so many lower budget or perhaps films that the movie studios don't see fit in supporting like the big summer tent pole flicks ultimately fall through the cracks and end up with the other thousand lonely films in your netflix cue.  Well you are in luck!  Today I am sharing with you two films that are currently making their way through American film festivals and hopefully to a theater or at least on demand for you to enjoy.

Hesher

Instantly from watching this trailer I wanted to see this film.  The cast alone looks amazing.  This stars Rain Wilson, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Natalie Portman.  I can't quite tell if Hesher is going to be a figment of the boy's imagination or what?  He looks bad ass and I totally think this is going to be a good film!  Ever heard of it before?  Nope, neither have I.  Just happened to read a small tidbit about it and here I am.

Detention

I haven't heard much about this film either.  I know that it has been playing at American film festivals and is a pretty big hit at the South By Southwest Festival.  I did hear that of all people Dane Cook is in this as the creepy principal and sure enough there he is.  I got a lot of mixed emotions from watching this trailer.  At times it didn't seem like much more than a campy cross between Jennifer's Body and The Breakfast Club.  The one nerdy guy sitting in detention looks like a cross between Napoleon Dynamite and Anthony Michael Hall.  Then as the final montage plays I am seeing a space ship and all kinds of other weird stuff that does peak my attention.  I'm not swayed either way but very interested.  All we can do is stay tuned!

Street Fighter Action In Real Life!

So we all know Street Fighter is a game we have grown up with and came to love like our favorite box of Captain Crunch.  So what is if in reality you were able to perform the stunning combination of punches and kicks to defeat your enemy?  Well, I came across exactly that. From what I understand a group of people called "The Thousand Pounds Fight Team" have made numerous videos doing just that.  I could sit here all day and watch these videos because they are actually beautifully choreographed and even though fake, still kick ass! You can check out their youtube page for even more videos!

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Fan Trailer!

The countdown is over.   A website counting down to what fans and members of the press alike was hoping to be a trailer for the highly anticipated Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 trailer revealed itself.  It seems to be a little bitter sweet.  The good news is that it is a trailer for Modern Warfare 3 but the bad news is that it's fan made.



Kotaku has the full article here which doesn't reveal much other than it was made by "Canada's We Can Pretend" artist collective.  Whatever the hell that is?

Plug: Apocalyptic Portland Oregon in the year 2092!

I just came across this interesting piece of news over at Io9.com.  The story is about a concept designer by the name of David Levy.  According to the article he has done work on video games such as Assassins Creed and Tron Legacy.  He has been working on a series of shorts called "Plug".  What really peaked my interest was that it is actually set in Portland, Oregon in the year 2092.  After watching the first short I am hooked and can't wait for the next in the series.  Make sure and watch this with HD on.  Good job man!

Plug - teaser one from vyle-art on Vimeo.