The Lovely Bones REVIEW!

While Visually: it's interesting, but it's ultimately a 2 hour screensaver. I couldn't emotionally connect to each character and I wasn't really feeling the story. Having read the novel, it gets rid of some small key aspects to focus on the more lamer ones sadly. But overall, I thought the performances were good. Stanley Tucci was fantastic as perfectly cast as Mr. Harvey. His performance is so layered and textured and it's unsettling to watch at times. It does it's job,but I can't help but feel let down by Peter Jackson. I really wanted to love this film, but it's a RENTAL. Surprisingly for the first time Peter Jackson isn't slavish to the original book as he was to LOTR, but there will be an inevitable 3+ hr cut of this film on dvd at some point.

The Hurt Locker REVIEW!

Viseral and fantastically made. Everything about the film is well made and provides some of the most tense and suspenseful scenes to come out all year. Kathryn Bigelow proves that she is the best female action/genre director around. While I do like what the film aciheved in a scene building and suspense level, the story didn't do it for me. The story and the character development was almost not there. I hated the protagonist and what his goals were, I thought everybody else was underdeveloped, and I thought that the film was trying hard at times to be heavy-handed with all of these sequences in which you see what these soliders do to each other and some of the things they contemplate doing to each other on and off the field. You get the sense of what these characters are like on the field, but not on a more personal level. I was taken by the chaos that the world of disarming bombs was and I wanted to have something there to hold it all together. I understand that it was the director's intention to not go into the solider's lives, but it alienated me in the sense that I wasn't cheering for really anybody in the whole film. The story was just lacking as was the conclusion to the film. This felt very much like a video game at points with some great set-pieces and tense action scenes, but no real narractive or character to hold it all together. I would have to give this a RENTAL.

Boondock Saints II REVIEW!

Troy Duffy is one of those directors with a really bad rap in the filmmaking community. With all of the negative word of mouth behind him, he is back. He is back with the first film since his cult hit Boondock Saints. Now it leads us to now.

This film is beat for beat the same film as the first. While the film's scale has certainly expanded since the last film, the storypoints are almost all the same. Clifton Colins Jr. is a wasted talent in this film and he plays one of the biggest hispanic cliches in a movie in a long while. He serves no real purpose than to try and fill in the shoes of a character that died at the end of the last film, without the audience liking him. The actors from the last film are all fine. The brothers still kick ass and they are as strong as ever. Julie Benz is miscast and Judd Nelson is wasted a bit too. Every new actor is either playing a tired or offensive cliche.

With all of this said, I wasn't bored by the film. I had fun with it in a lot of parts. I thought it was more or less the same film as the last one. It didn't expand on any of the thematics brought upon in the first film. The weakest point of this film is in the script. It is the same film, but it was still fun. The brothers are back, but I can't help but feel as if the novelty of the first film has kind of rubbed off. There are some great set pieces to the film, but the story feels very lackluster at points and a retelling of part 1. This is a movie made for the hardcore Boondock fans. It was't as bad as it could have been. So, I'd give it a RENTAL. It was fun seeing the brothers back for another go!

Saw Movies (From least to greatest)

Here is my list for the all-time best Saw films from least to greatest!

#6. SAW V

While this saw was definitely the worst of the bunch, I felt that this one was just filler. It lead up to nothing really and didn't present anything interesting that we hadn't seen before. although not terrible, it just was a bit of a letdown. Not as interesting as the previous films.

RENTAL

6 of 10

#5. SAW IV

This one was good in the fact that it kept up the energy and it was for all intents and purposes a Saw film! This one was surprising that it did keep Jigsaw a critical part in the film, but in flashbacks. While this one was more surprising in the fact that it showed the series did have some legs to last a few more pictures. I am willing to believe that this one was a great start off point for the 2nd trilogy!

RENTAL

6 of 10

#4. SAW VI

Easyly the best of the 2nd trilogy! I dug this one more for the questions it asked and it was more satisfying than the last 2 films. This is what this 2nd trilogy was building up to. While this one is still a good movie, the ending seems a bit shoe-horned in with a character's conclusion that I felt the producers may have decided to keep it around for another sequel to be made. Overall, a satisfying Saw film!

MATINEE

7 of 10

#3. SAW II

I thought a sequel was warranted and as soon as I heard James Wan wasn't going to direct it, I had little hope in this sequel. I think that this film surpassed my expectations. This one decided to crank up what the last film had to offer in terms of the traps. This one was just a fun time to watch and just was gorey as hell. I dug this sequel!

FULL-PRICE!

8 of 10

#2 SAW III

This film was actually better than the last. I thought it had improved when they decided to revert back to an introspective story and fewer characters, it was mote satisfying to watch and get the emotional connection to each of the characters. I thought that the gore was definitely cranked up a few notches and it was trurly hard to watch in some scenes. The actors were also signifcantly more better than the last few films as there was some talent behind this one for the leads. The traps were elegant and satifyingly gruesome. I easily the best sequel of them all.

FULL PRICE!

8 of 10

1. SAW

Nothing could top the original for me. I felt that this one was made with at least an actual intent on making a good movie. Bad acting aside, this one was directed decently enough. I thought that the film had a great hook, and it did deliver for me. The thing about this film was that it wasn't about the gore, it was more about the connection of the dots. The traps play a small part in the film and the aftermath is what sells the scene. This one was more subtle in nature and didn't try to become a gore fest. Overall, I thought the film was tightly constructed and it had a great plot and the storyline was good. This movie was an intense experience and it was a mix of old and new styles. This redefined the horror genre for this generation.

FULL-PRICE!

9 of 10

Here ya go guys! Check this films out because unlike Friday the 13th or those other horror franchises, Jigsaw is maybe the most fascinating of all the characters out today. These are a decent series of films and I do enjoy it for they are.

Jennifer's Body REVIEW!

While the film isn't that bad, it just doesn't have any sense of focus. While the positives have to be that Megan Fox was perfectly cast in the role as a ravenous and cold hearted high schooler, but some of the faults have a lot to do with the storyline and the script.

While this a Diablo Cody script, it is really just a coming of age tale with the theme of a horror monster film shoved in for measure. One of my biggest complaints is that there isn't a sense of tone or a sense that this film has an agenda. It just seems like a amateur's film script. It seems like Diablo Cody got a little full of herself with this film with all of the indie slang just shoe-horned in at point, and there seems to be a lot of self-applauding on her part. As for being a coming of age story, it is ok.

As a horror comedy, it falls flat at points. There are points where you see the director and writer are clearly stealing from other films such as the classic Evil Dead series, but this movie just seems like a mix of all of these great scenes taken from other films. While the opening acts of the film are interesting, by the time the 3rd act kicks in, you just feel as if the film has lost what it is trying to become. The horror aspects fall flat a lot of the time. The gore scenes are really lackluster and it doesn't deliver.

I get what Diablo was trying to say with the script, but I just feel as if there was a better movie within her. There are numerous indie moments in this film with the soundtrack and the slang, but it doesn't really work for this film. Overall, I'd give this one a RENTAL. Not bad, but I can't quite recommend it to everybody. Just don't expect a gorey horror film.

Gamer Review!

Just ok. It is well made and it looks great, but the storyline just sucks. Gerard Butler is cool, and Michael C. Hall plays his role comically, but it's just not that rush of adrenaline that I was expecting. The role pretty much lived up to my expectations, but it didn't throw me any curve balls. I'd have to say this film is a solid RENTAL.

Extract Review!

Getting back from this screening, I still didn't know what to think about this film. This film is just optimizes the very idea of someone who is at a low and dead end point in their lives. He is his own boss, he has a wife, and he works at creating one of the things he loves: extract. The low point in all of this is that he hates being his own boss, his wife doesn't sleep with him and he questions her feelings for him, and nobody isn't really interested in extract. The film is just about how we can all come back from these intense low-points in our lives by all the unlikely places. This film just nails the aspect of having a light at the end of the tunnel, but you need to find closure in yourself first.

The plot of the film is interesting in the fact that it doesn't follow a real structure and there is really not a build-up towards the ending. The ending kinda comes and we don't really have an emotionally connection to any of the characters. Some of them just seem a little too bland except for the 3 mains leads of the picture: Jason Bateman, Kristen Wig, and Ben Affleck. With this said the film is still funny. The film is more tongue in cheek and subtle than something like The Goods. While it's still a good movie, you need to take your time and see what it is all about. It's not dull, just a more laid-back film and it takes it's time trying to get to it's points, but you are going to have some laughs along the way.

The acting of the film is comparable to most of Mike Judge's films. Jason Bateman I think did a great job with his character as there is alot he conveys with the character without beating me over the head with. The same goes for Kristen Wig's character. She conveys a lot with her eyes and you can tell that her and Jason Bateman's characters have a lot to say to each other and the audience, but they have no words for it. Ben Affleck's character is funny as hell in the film. It's him playing him if he was a massive laid back dude. His character is just funny throughout the film and feels very much like a Judge character. He is a slacker and everything that Jason bateman's character wishes he could be.

With all of this said. The film is still funny, but I wouldn't say rush out and go see this one in a theatre. This is funny, but not trying to be Office Space. This would be the boss's version of Office Space. This is a RENTAL. Don't pay to see it on the big screen, but I wouldn't discourage anybody from seeing the film at all. It's a good movie, but not a great one!

Halloween II REVIEW!!!

Time and time again Rob Zombie has proven that he is one creative and talented musician/artist/filmmaker. I wasn't a fan of House of 1,000 Corpses, but the visuals were great in the film. I think that Devil's Rejects is a far superior film than Corpses and I actually dug the 2007 Halloween Remake. It was a different vibe and feel and I applauded Zombie for trying something different and not simply rehashing the original story and give us a re-telling of that classic first film. It was different and it was an entertaining and solid horror flick. Now this brings us to Halloween 2. I was actually looking forward to this film because I did enjoy the remake and I know he was going to have his own re-interpretation for the sequel since he is not bound by the limitations that he had before with a remake. Plus the fact that he can outdo himself with each movie definitely had me on it's side. I was definitely looking forward to it.

Well, the film is essentially taking a much more fantasy element to the story. While the first film delved into the dysfunctional family aspect of the Michael Myers character, this film focuses on the "white horse" and the relationship between Michael and Laurie. Doing that is fine, but they just didn't make it interesting and they threw cliche' upon cliche' onto the story to the point where I felt as if I was being force feed all of these mental health aspects. The film is also just a bit on the unorganized side. While this film has a lot of kills, they are all the same kills and it just gets a bit tiresome by the end. The Halloween theme is not present in most of the film and it just decided to forget that it was a Halloween movie. I have to give props to Zombie for not rehashing the original sequel, but it still wasn't that interesting. I wasn't all that impressed. Most of the character development is undercut by a scene that happens later on. The main protagnist isn't active and you really aren't rooting for her. The Characters that come from the original are either not the same characters or they have just changed to really generic and unlikable characters completely different from the original film's portrayal. The character of Sam Loomis is completely wasted and is just not a likable character at all in the entire picture. Nearly every character here is wasted and not likable. The film also takes the biggest leap of faith with Michael Myers. While I was fine with Michael Myers being somewhat of a hobo, you need to have Michael Myers stay consistent. His mask comes on and off on a constant basis. That conflicts with his character that was established in the first film. The film just doesn't know what story to tell about Michael Myers and what to convey about his character. It is just a misfire character-wise. It is one thing to play around with the mythos, but it is a completely different thing to negate everything that had happened to the characters in the last film.

The acting of the film just ranging from mediocre to terrible. Scout Taylor-Compton is just terrible in the film and is one note. Brad Dourif was surprisingly good and I liked his character much more in this film. Sherri Moon-Zombie feels very shoe-horned in to a comic extent! The gore is brutal, but brief.

I am completely convinced that this film wasn't directed seriously by Rob Zombie. There are tons of lines of dialogue that are overly just unbelievable even for a horror flick. The tone is all over the place and it was just weird to explain Michael Myer's motivation by using the "white horse" psychology is just too much. It was better to have Michael as a force of nature in the first film and now explaining everything makes him a victim and you don't want that for an iconic mass-murderer.

With all of this bagging on the film, the cinematography for a 16MM film was great. There was a lot of standout moments visually with the white horse that definitely gives this film it's own vibe, but it's a small positive in an otherwise decent slasher film.

Overall, It's a character mess all around and just disappointing as a Halloween film. It undermines everything that Michael Myers was as a icon. The film is not going to win any new fans and it is just all over the place in terms of what it wants to be. The only reason to watch this on the big screen would be to see the 16mm cinematography as it does add to the vibe of the film. Overall, I would have to say that this film is just ok. I got a slasher film, but it's not Halloween. Michael Myers definitely deserved better and if the series keeps on track with how it's going so far, I fear that we may get a feeling of Deja Vu in which the series just gets progressively worse and worse after the third film. This is just a RENTAL film at best. I didn't hate the film, but I was disappointed.

The Final Destination REVIEW!

Well this series has gone on for four movies, each with a different gimmick, but this one has one thing going for it: Three Dimesions. While I did enjoy this film, this film is more enjoyed the way it was intended on the big screen and with the 3D glasses. On the positive side, this film has the gore factor going for it. The Writer and the Director of the second film and the most entertaining of the bunch, come back for another crack at making the audience squirm at the over-the-top kills, but now they will be ducking for cover. The film works as the mindless summer horror film that it sets out to be. This film does not try to build upon anything that the last couple of films did. It is just there to have kids get killed in over the top ways.

The plot of this film is more or less standard for a Final Destination film. Kid experiences accident and then he stops it, only to delay his ultimate demise. It is just a film that is more or less a wash of the previous 3, only different and some very creative kills. The thing that this film has going for it is the 3D! The 3D is very in line with what Friday the 13th in 3D did for the 80's and what My Bloody Valentine did earlier in the year. It is a fun and great time at the movies. The 3D adds so much to the film and it gives that extra kick to the film.

While the best thing that this film has going for it is the 3D, if that was taken away, this film pretty much doesn't hold up. It is better than the last final destination film, but its got nothing new to offer except for the 3D. The biggest flaw is that this film is dependent on the 3D to have a great time in the movie. The acting is mediocre to terrible. the characters are only there to die, and nothing else. The plot is a wash of the last film. There's nothing else to offer here. The intention was to provide a good time at the movies and deliver a visceral 3D experience, and this film does it.

Overall, the kills were cool and there is a twist at the last act that does make this one stand out over the last film that makes this film fun as hell in 3D. Overall this film is a RENTAL. I did enjoy it, but without the 3D it loses a lot of the thing that made this film so fun. I don't think another film is warranted, but I wouldn't mind seeing another one. See it the way it was intended: 3D, in a theatre, and with some buddies!

YEAR ONE REVIEW!

Hey guys! Just got back from a pre-screening of Harold Ramis' YEAR ONE starring Jack Black and Michael Cera, produced by Judd Apatow.

Bottom line? The movie was ok. I found myself laughing at seeing the usual Apatow crew and noticing where they were scattered. The story didn't really cut it out for me, as much as the message behind the film was strong enough, but everything else was kind of flat.

The Positive aspects about this film as with any Apatow film is the casting. Peppered throughout the entire film are cameos from Apatow regulars in unexpected roles (Bill Hader, McLovin, Hank Azeria, Paul Rudd, and Kyle Gass to name a few) Jack Black and Michael Cera work surprisingly well for this type of film. I am personally always annoyed by Michael Cera doing his whole "I am uncomfortable in my own skin with members of the opposite sex" act that I thought I was going to hate him, but I actually did like him in the film. Faring as well was Jack Black. He pulled his whole Jack Blackism as he does in every film, but had fun watching him in this. I thought the one character that stole the show a lot of the time he was onscreen was Oliver Platt as the High Priest. He was hilarious and the conclusion his character comes to just has you laughing all through. The low points of this film is the storyline. The storyline is very cheesey and predictable and seems to just shoehorn biblical elements for the sake of parodying them. The scenes that worked the best for Me was in the first act and 3rd act and beyond. I wasn't really bored, but that second act was real weak and it was leaving me a bit bored at times. Overall, the movie was ok and it was entertaining. However, I can't quite recommend this one to everybody. This film seems like a misstep for the guy who wrote classics such as Caddyshack and Ghostbusters. It definitely is one of the weaker of the Apatow films to come out. I can't say it's horrible, but I can definitely say that it's a solid RENTAL. Don't pay to see it one the big screen, you'll have a much better time being able to have a few drinks and watch this film (as I was able to for this screening :D) but it's an ok film, just be sure to rent it at best if you really want to see it.

There ya go, Disapointed by Judd and crew. Maybe this will be their slight start of a downfall or will this be Judd's Drillbit Taylor and will he redeem himself with Funny People this summer? Time will tell! Till next time guys!