End of Watch (2012) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: David Ayer
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña

WOW. That's my initial one-word impression of this movie. It absolutely blew me away. I'm a big fan of cop movies, Training Day being hands down my favourite and I also love Street Kings with Keanu. David Ayer? The guy who wrote, directed and produced End of Watch also happened to write/produce Training Day and direct Street Kings. It's easy to say if you enjoyed those you'd enjoy this one, it's true, but don't let that make you think it's anything like those two movies. I'd argue it's better than both. Yes I haven't watched Training Day for years so my memory may be failing me on how good Training Day is but I'm just trying to illustrate how good I really think End of Watch is. I went so far as to call it the Movie of the Year. Briefly convincing myself it was better than the Dark Knight Rises. It isn't, but the fact that I had to think about it is saying something.

ANYWAY, Ayer, who also wrote S.W.A.T went away from the corrupt-cop narrative with End of Watch in this brilliant story about two partners, the good guys, the hot shots, that cruise in their black and white through some of the toughest streets in L.A. Brutal and gritty as shit. Filmed partially as a documentary (under the premise of Gyllenhaal's character shooting a video for film school), it's not some cheap gimmick following on from the likes of Project X etc. It's actually a fascinating way to tell this touching story about the brotherhood and friendship of these two cops and what they go through. Not just on the job but it chronicles their after-hours lives which is obviously affected by their day jobs.

I'll admit to be a little biased as not only do I love cop movies but Peña and Gyllenhaal are among my favourite actors and I thought they were phenomenal. Every time they got a call to go beat down a door or something I was terrified for their safety. That's the connection I felt to their characters and the way the story was told. A fantastic movie that I already can't wait to watch again.

Check out the trailer and see if it doesn't pump your nuts up:

Expendables 2 - MOVIE REVIEW

OH MY GOD!

I fucking LOVED this movie. I wasn't a massive fan of the first Expendables. In fact, I've forgotten almost everything about it. It was cool to see all those legends together but I just didn't get into it. Number 2 though? AMAZING. Why? How? Yes, the story isn't that great and the acting won't win any awards but still, it was perfect.

All the legends, back together. This time, instead of Arnold/Bruce Willis cameos they had meatier roles… and Chuck Norris, he was Chuck Norris. Seeing all these guys together on the big screen shooting up bad guys made me feel like a kid in a candy store. The acting was very average. The lines were CORNY AS FUCK, and I loved every minute of it.

I watched it in a packed out cinema and everyone felt the same way, laughing our asses off at the amount of times Arnie said a variation or I'm back or I'll be back and countless other gems by Sly and John McLaine. Oh and the gratuitous violence. Geeeze.

Watch this movie, unless you're too cool to enjoy bad acting and an average story. Can't wait to get the fuckin blu-ray. One tip though, I think you'll probably enjoy it more watching it with friends that you can share the journey with.

Dark Knight Rises - MOVIE REVIEW

I honestly don't know why I'm writing this… DKR is so massive that this is probably pointless so I'll keep it brief.

DKR is a great movie. Unsurprisingly it's not better than the Dark Knight. Heath Ledger's Joker set that movie off into another stratosphere. Bane, despite my worries about the mask is a really good villain. Anne Hathaway killed it as Cat Woman, I was also worried about how she'd be too but she knocked it out of the park. Bale was Bale. Oldman was great. Joseph Gordon-Levitt was fantastic I thought and the story? Forgeddabouddit. Wouldn't change a thing. Christopher Nolan is a god-damn genius. After Dark Knight/Inception/DKR he's been propelled into the "Watch EVERYTHING he makes" category that only Tarantino, Scorcese, Denzel and DiCaprio belong to. Thanks bro, you're a legend.

You know what, fuck it, I'm not writing any more, just watch the damn thing.

(damn you Michael Caine for making me cry)

The Amazing Spiderman - MOVIE REVIEW

For those living under a rock, the hugely successful Tobey Maguire Spiderman series has been rebooted…. and it's pretty damn good.

I didn't care for the Tobey series all that much so I was super keen for this reboot to be good. The new guy, Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) is a much better Peter Parker I think. I'm not a big Spiderman fan so I didn't think he had to be a certain way but I just didn't like the Tobey Spiderman and this guy, he's good. It's sort of a darker Spiderman to an extent but not Nolan-Batman dark. 

Emma Stone is more likeable as the love interest and Dennis Leary plays a solid cop role. I won't reveal anything about the villain but safe to say it's an entertaining watch and a half decent story. Watch it.

Prometheus (2012) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba

What was originally meant to be another movie in the Alien franchise then became a prequel for the Alien series and in the end became it's own story that precedes the Alien franchise but is actually not directly connected to it. Exactly, I don't really care either. I haven't even seen the Alien movies to be honest.

Prometheus? Pretty cool though. It's a futuristic movie where humans travel to another planet and have all these cool toys and awesome looking ships and find strange things etc. Nothing new or groundbreaking here but I'm a bit of a sucker for movies with cool futuristic shit in it so I enjoyed it. Michael Fassbender is a very good actor as well so I enjoyed watching him in action. An entertaining flick but you're not missing out if you don't see it

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: Timur Bekmambetov
Starring: Benjamin Walker, Dominic Cooper, Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Produced by Tim Burton and Directed by the guy who did Wanted, we have ourselves a vampire movie that the vampire movie haters can enjoy. I'm one of them.

As if old Abe wasn't a great enough guy for freeing the slaves, the 2010 novel of the same name that this movie was based on, has re-written history to make this dude just a little bit more awesome. It's an enjoyable slasher (he uses an axe!) with some decent acting and a storyline that manages to stick to certain historical accuracies but in the end is just a down right fun thing to watch for a couple hours.

Nothing special, but fun. A lot of fun. Some great fight scenes... including an epic one on horses (no, not like your're picturing either)

Ted (2012) - MOVIE REVIEW

 

Director: Seth MacFarlane
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis, Seth MacFarlane, Giovanni Ribisi

Ok... so, Ted is HILARIOUS.

Seth MacFarlane, the genius behind the Family Guy, directed, co-wrote and produced his first motion picture about a talking, take no shit, pot smoking, drinking teddy bear. As I said, it's hilarious. It's everything you ever wanted from a Seth MacFarlane film about a talking bear. Period.

There's no need to write anything else. Watch it. If you don't like Family Guy, don't watch it, take a good long hard look at yourself instead. Time to re-evaluate things.

Safe House (2012) - MOVIE REVIEW

 

Director: Daniel Espinosa
Starring: Denzel Washington, Ryan Reynolds, Vera Farmiga

This is one of those movies where you see the trailer and you think DAMN! I did. I love Denzel and these days I'll watch pretty much anything with him in it. I'm also a big fan of Ryan Reynolds too. To top it off the trailer looked crazy, action-packed, intriguing and anchored by the wicked beats and lyrics off "No Church In The Wild" from Watch The Throne. I was immediately hooked. Then reality set it. From this trailer it was pretty clear although we knew what the movie was about, we didn't really know much. Who was Tobin Frost? I had a feeling this movie might not be so great. Also, despite how much I like Ryan Reynolds, he doesn't make great movies... but I held out hope this would turn around with the help of Denzel.

So I don't tell you too much and ruin the movie, instead I'll just say this. It was good, not great. The plot-line was half decent but the pay-off at the end just wasn't that great. It was a little disappointing. For me, because Denzel has made so many damn awesome movies it's almost a disappointment if his next film isn't always great, even if I try manage my expectations.

It's still an enjoyable movie though. Any Denzel fan or a fan of action should watch it. Although this seemed to be the first English-speaking film (i'm guessing) from little known director Daniel Espinosa, I thought it was really well put together and the non-stop action throughout was enthralling. Ryan Reynolds was solid, the CIA brass was as it is in all spy movies and Denzel was... Denzel. This movie and his character seemed to be shaped around him. It seemed like the movie was filmed, the script was written to play to Denzel's strengths as an actor and I thought he was great. I don't care if I'm a little biased but let me say this... replace Ryan Reynolds with anyone else? Same movie. Replace Denzel? Forgettabouttit...

Warrior (2011) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: Gavin O'Conner
Starring: Joel Edgerton, Tom Hardy, Nick Nolte

Not another boxing movie. Well, yes and no. There must be 7000 boxing movies made in the history of film and yes, this is actually MMA (Mixed Martial Arts - UFC type stuff), not boxing, but still... same same.

But this one is so damn good!

I was totally caught by surprise how good this film actually was. Aussie Joel Edgerton (Animal Kingdom, The Great Gatsby) and Tom Hardy (Inception, RocknRolla) star as two estranged brothers that grew up wrestling but were separated as their abusive father (Nolte) tore the family apart. An MMA competition with a multi-million dollar pay packet brings them both back into the ring (octagon actually) and they must deal with all the family baggage that resurfaces when the brothers and their father all get back in touch. Anyway, you learn this much from the trailer.

I absolutely loved this movie. Yes, I'm a sucker for great fight scenes but the plot to this movie, the plight of the broken family, the acting were all so special. Make no mistake, this movie can be fun if you just want to watch some good old fashion hollywood beat downs but Edgerton, Hardy and even Nolte make this movie so much more. Maybe I'm just a bit of a sap but there was a bit of a salty discharge from my eye balls on a couple of occasions. Every single aspect of this movie felt so real and so believable and even relatable.

I decided to watch this movie for 3 reasons. One, it was MMA, not boxing. I was curious to see how they'd make a movie about it. Two, Joel Edgerton. You pay attention when an Australian makes it hollywood. I do anyway. Three, Tom Hardy. I only know Tom Hardy from Inception and RocknRolla but in both outings I was impressed with his work. That being said, in Warrior he lifted the roof off of my expectations for him. Hardy, Edgerton and Nolte gave so much to this movie. It really was quite impressive that they actually hit the nail on the head with the casting of the three most important roles.

It's just such a shame that there will be a whole segment of audience that will miss out because they don't want to watch 'another boxing movie'.

THIS SPACE: Is normally where I add in the trailer but I'm not doing that this time. I'm leaving it out because it shows so much, it doesn't ruin the movie, heck you might even forget part of it, but I feel like it'll be just that little bit better if you haven't even seen the trailer. I just looked at the trailer for the first time right now and was glad that I didn't see it before hand because every little thing that happened in the movie was a surprise instead of knowing half the stuff that happened. Pros and Cons of see the trailer is a whole other story anyway... Just watch the movie :)

Horrible Bosses (2011) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: Seth Gordon

Starring: Jason Bateman, Charlie Day, Jason Sudeikis, Jennifer Aniston, Colin Farrell, Kevin Spacey, Jamie Foxx

An ensemble casts hits the big screen to deliver possibly one of the comedies of the year in Horrible Bosses. As you can assume from the poster, Jason Bateman, Charlie Day and Jason Sudeikis play the three employees and Kevin Spacey, Jennifer Aniston and Colin Farrell play the horrible bosses. The end game? To kill their bosses. That's where 'Murder Consultant', Motherfucker Jones (Jamie Foxx), steps in to help the hapless would-be killers.

While the plot is very simple and not particularly unique, Michael Markowitz's script and the acting by these 7 established stars make for a movie that was absolutely brilliant at times and at the least very funny at others... and there are some great one liners which is always the trademark for a hilarious film.

As per the poster, Spacey played the 'Psycho' boss, which was always going to be a solid performance from such a great actor. Jennifer Aniston played the 'Man eater', which was surprisingly good considering I've got no love for her. Colin Farrell absolutely nailed the role of the 'Douche Bag' boss. Very funny and a great compliment to Bateman, Day and Sudeikis. Welcome back Mr. Farrell.

Jason Bateman was Jason Bateman. That's a good thing though. You know what to expect from him and you get it and it's good. Jason Sudeikis and Charlie Day were hilarious. Sudeikis played a very similar role to what he's played in other movies and on skit show Saturday Night Live while Charlie Day had a very It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia-esque performance in which he regularly kills.

Great movie... if you watch one comedy this year... (you know how this sentence finishes)

Here's the trailer:

127 Hours (2011) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: James Franco

Based on the autobiography Between a Rock and a Hard Place, the true story of mountain climber Aron Ralston is played out by James Franco (Pineapple Express, Milk) on the big screen. The movie is about the 127 hours Aron Ralston spent with his hand stuck between a rock and a wall.

I won't say how it finishes but it can only end 3 ways... Death, survival with his arm or survival without his arm... Regardless, this is a truly intense film about what this guy went through in those grueling 5 days, hundreds of miles from another soul. Nominated for an Oscar, Franco produces one of his finest performances to date and really made you feel for this guy after 5 days of starvation, dehydration and hallucinations. The ending is even a bit of a tear jerker.

I did a bit of wikipedia-ing and was pleased to find this about the authenticity of the storyline:
The scenes early in the film of Ralston's encounter with the two hikers were altered to portray Ralston showing them a hidden pool, when in reality he just showed them some basic climbing moves. Despite these changes, with which he was initially uncomfortable, Ralston says the rest of the film is "so factually accurate it is as close to a documentary as you can get and still be a drama."

Don't let the plot fool you into thinking this would be a boring film. It really isn't. This is one of the better films of the year.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LeBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich

Preface:
Yes, I gave this four-and-a-half stars but hear me out. With a near perfect rating I'm not saying that this movie will be loved universally. If you're the type of person that cannot open your mind and just enjoy a movie about machines killing eachother, machines with feelings, a movie adapted from a line of toys or even up for a laugh with all the comic relief provided by this flick then you can just stop reading now. You can also stop taking yourself so seriously too. 

More more more! Dark of the Moon is 150 minutes of more. More battles, more transformers, more destruction, more of a story line, more acting (not always a good thing in these movies), more dimensions (the 3D was surprisingly seamless) and more to talk about. Where to start?

The acting. Let's be honest, fans of this film series aren't too bothered with the acting but we don't exactly want it to suck either. It follows the same formula of comic relief coming from most of the characters except for the a-holes in charge. With the injection of cameo's by screen legend John Malkovich and The Hangover's Ken Jeong, this movie was much funnier. Megan Fox was pretty ordinary in the first two movies but that didn't really matter because she had such a meaningless role. Her replacement, Victoria Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, did a better job in her first acting gig. While it wasn't really good, it was better than Fox's performances and yes, she smoking hot which helps tip the scale of bias.

The story. Solid. Not much else to say. The writers came up with some Transformers mythology, gave the bad guys a reason to come to earth and so they fought the autobots.

The battle scenes. This is where Dark of the Moon really excels. I was absolutely awestruck at the enormity and length of the battles. You can't complain about the final showdown being too short. You just can't. As I said before, so many machines, so much destruction. I watched this in IMAX 3D and it was clear what was happening in about 95% of the scenes. Only for a quick second here or there are you like "wait, what? who is that?"

The latest and likely final instalment of Michael Bay's Transformers is, in one word, epic. I was a big fan of the first two flicks but Dark of the Moon has absolutely blown them out of the water.

Limitless (2011) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: Neil Burger
Starring: Bradley Cooper, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro

So this is a movie about a guy that realises a fantasy most of us have thought about at least once. Bradley Cooper (The Hangover) plays Eddie Morra, the lucky fool that takes a tablet to unlock the full power of his brain as opposed to using just 20% of it. As you would expect and also see in the trailer, he becomes super smart which solves almost all his problems. Unfortunately it creates new ones, otherwise this movie would suck.

Based on Alan Glynn's novel, The Dark Fields, Limitless was never going to suck regardless of the acting and the story line. Why? Because the guy takes a tablet that makes him super smart and in turn successful and rich. Like I said, something we've all fantasised about. But the acting didn't suck, Cooper was actually pretty good and Robert De Niro (Do I need to name a movie he was in?) was a nice little addition to complement him. The story held up well too. It was a good mix of plot twists, action, drama, a little bit of love and a whole bunch of fun.

If you want to escape from reality for 100 minutes and immerse youself into a nice little fantasy, watch this movie. Be warned though, 5 minutes after it finishes you'll be a tiny bit depressed when you remember that you only use 20% of your brain and there isn't a magic tablet out there... yet.

Check out the trailer

The Adjustment Bureau (2011) - MOVIE REVIEW

Director: George Nolfi
Starring: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Anthony Mackie, John Slattery, Terrence Stamp

"Bourne meets Inception" was one of the review blurbs I saw on a poster promo for this movie. More like, "Let's be really vague in the 30 second preview and make people think this is gonna be a decent action flick with some Inception-like plot lines and effects". Well it's kind of my fault for being sold there instead of reading about the movie or watching the 3 minute preview which reveals more about the film. It reveals that it's a sort of love story that's a bit Bourne and Inception-esque.

Guys, don't be scared away by me calling it a love story. This is one of the better movies to take a girl to see in that you'll enjoy it too and not just her. She'll dig all the sappy stuff and you'll dig everything that fills the gaps.

I won't give away too much about what the people from the Adjustment Bureau do, since you'll pick that up in the preview and early in the film but needless to say, it's got a cool little premise about them being able to control the world's destiny and to control your fate. The movie gets all lovey-dovey because David Norris' (Damon) fate is to not be with the girl of his dreams and he'll do what he needs to do to be with her blah blah blah...

Back to the Bureau... Terrence Stamp, John Slattery (Roger Sterling in Mad Men) and Anthony Mackie (The Hurt Locker) are three members of The Adjustment Bureau that were probably the three best characters in the Movie. Don't get me wrong, Matt Damon's David Norris was very good and I didn't have a problem with Emily Blunt's performance either but these three guys sort of carried the movie for me. It was a mixture of intriguing and interesting characters and good acting that really made those three guys my favourites. Especially Anthony Mackie. I regrettably haven't seen The Hurt Locker yet but knowing that he is in it makes me want to watch it more.

Don't race out to the movies to watch this unless on a date or something but definitely get around to it eventually. Not a bad movie.

Check out the trailer

The Other Guys (2010) - MOVIE REVIEW

Directed and co-written by Adam McKay (Anchorman, Step Brothers)
Starring: Will Ferrell, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Keaton, Eva Mendes

I'll try keep it brief because this flick has been out a while, everyone knows about it and lots have probably seen it so I thought I'd take this opportunity to put it back in the minds of those who haven't seen it yet.

The Other Guys is a buddy-cop comedy. Detective Allen Gamble (Will Ferrell) and Detective Terry Hoitz (Mark Wahlberg) are the buddy cops and Michael Keaton, I mean Batman, plays their Captain. Will Ferrell is Will Ferrell, you get what you expect and he was funny as ever in this one. Probably one of his better performances actually.

Mark Wahlberg and Michael Keaton were major surprises though. I expected this to be the sort of comedy where Ferrell would be awesome and Marl Wahlberg would just be making up the numbers. Who would of thought that old mate Dirk Diggler could be really funny. He was brilliant. Almost on par with Ferrell but in a totally different comedic style. He wasn't being a total weirdo like most of Will Ferrell's characters are, he was just a New York City cop pissed off with the world but his character was so tragic that it was funny. I was so impressed.

Now the Scottie Pippens to Wahlberg/Ferrell's Michael Jordans. Playing a minor role of Captain Gene Mauch, Keaton nailed the part of the quirky, crazy guy and Eva Mendes wasn't just easy on the eyes in her scenes as Gamble's 'plain' wife Sheila. She was great.

Yes, I haven't said a word about the story. Doesn't matter. Just watch the film.

Check out the trailer


a peek at one of my favourite clips (the full thing is twice as long and twice as funny)

True Grit (2011) - MOVIE REVIEW

Rating:  
Written and Directed by Joel & Ethan Coen
Starring: Jeff Bridges, Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Hailee Steinfeld

Lovers of the classic western, feast your eyes on the second film adaptation of Charles Portis' 1968 novel of the same name. The first adaptation back in 1969 starred John Wayne who actually scored his only Oscar for his portrayal of U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn. I haven't seen that flick but with an Oscar worthy performance by John Wayne, I'm going to assume it was good.

The latest adaptation features Jeff Bridges taking on John Wayne's role as U.S. Marshal Cogburn with Matt Damon riding by his side as Texas Ranger LaBoeuf. Together they set of on a bounty hunt of Tom Chaney (Brolin) to bring justice for murdering the father of Mattie Ross (Steinfeld).

The trailer for this movie looks very cool but unfortunately a little misleading. I got the impression that there would be lots of gunslinging but that was not the case. Still, the movie that I actually saw was pretty good. It was a no-frills, relatively non-hollywood western and it didn't have any magic tricks or misdirection. It was a no-nonsense story about a 14 year old girl that hires a U.S Marshal and a Texas Ranger to capture the man that killed her father. As much as this movie is about catching the bad guy, it's also the story of Mattie Ross and U.S Marshal Cogburn and their long, difficult journey.

I was a little uncertain about Damon's casting to begin with but he fit in quite well. Jeff Bridges was great as the stubborn, drunken old Marshal struggling to deal with his own mortality and is in the running to win his second consecutive Oscar for best actor following his stirring performance in Crazy Heart. Hailee Steinfeld? Write that name down because it's not the last we'll hear from her. She was brilliant. Better than Bridges I dare to say. Not sure who her fellow Best Supporting Actress nominees are but, look out! The simple plot line of this movie is carried by some solid acting and characters across the board which makes the movie what it is.

True Grit is nominated for 10 Oscars, to be held on February 27, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted screenplay, Best Actor (Bridges) and Best Supporting Actress (Steinfeld). This is a good old fashined western. Take your dad and your grandfather to see it.

Check out the trailer

Year One (2009) - MOVIE REVIEW

Rating: 
Director: Harold Ramis
Starring: Jack Black, Michael Cera

Produced by Judd Apatow, the go-to funny man for comedies these days, Year One is a pretty mindless, funny comedy. But, it's 4pm, I'm tired, I'm hungry and I'm feeling lazy so what I'm going to get you to do is watch the trailer below to see what it's about then come back to me.

Boiled down, this is a story about 2 guys, 2000 years ago, on a journey to free their fellow camp members from slavery but what makes this movie funny are the jokes. No shit. Jack Black (School of Rock) and Michael Cera (Superbad) spearhead this movie with plenty of cameos from hollywood funnymen, Hank Azaria, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (McLovin), Paul Rudd, Horatio Sanz, and Bill Hader (Superbad). Oliver Platt plays an unexpected role as the High Priest and almost steals the show. His character was hilarious.

As expected with movies set back in time, there were tonnes of pop-references to modern day events and plenty of lampooning of how life was back then.

Good for a laugh at two and half stars but there are better ones out there to watch at the moment.

Check out the trailer

Public Enemies (2009) - MOVIE REVIEW

Rating: 
Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, Marion Cotillard

I know it's late but after all the bad reviews I was never in a rush to see this and despite Johnny Depp's best efforts, I'm giving Public Enemies a bad review as well.

Back during the great depression in the 30's, John Dillinger (Depp) was America's most notorious bank robber and the most wanted. The crime wave of robberies by Dillinger and his associates brought along the birth of the FBI. The 143 minutes dedicated to this movie are based around Dillinger's final years as he is hunted by the FBI and agent Melvin Purvis (Bale). It also explores his romantic relationship with Billie Frechette (Cotillard).

If I had to generalise I would probably say that this movie failed in almost every way possible.

The biggest let down for me was the lack of actual bank robberies. Usually something you look for in a movie about a bank robber in the height of a crime wave. What there was of the robberies were executed with some brilliant camera work by Michael Mann and a great soundtrack with "10 Million Slaves" by Otis Taylor.

Depp seems to be so cool that he could do anything but he didn't always look comfortable in his role. He never really owned it. The sexual chemistry between him and Cotillard just wasn't there and you didn't buy into the fact that he was on top of the world with all the money and infamy he reveled in. Nothing like the way Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro and Joe Pesci did it in Goodfellas. Christian Bale didn't have a meaty role but he did quite well with what he was given. After Terminator: Salvation, I've been thinking he's a little overrated so I've lowered my expectations of him.

The final nail in the coffin was the length. At 143 minutes, I often found my mind wandering. You had this feeling the movie could break out at any moment but you knew it wouldn't.

If you're a Johnny Depp fan, it's ok to check it out, you won't hate yourself but otherwise forget it.

This actually isn't the trailer, it's fan made with "Ten Million Slaves" by Otis Taylor dubbed over which features heavily in the movie and is a great track. I wanted to share that with you more than the original trailer!

Kick-Ass (2010) - MOVIE REVIEW

Rating: 
Director: Matthew Vaughn
Starring: Aaron Johnson, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Chloe Grace Moretz, Mark Strong, Nicholas Cage

Pretty sure co-writers Matthew Vaughn and Jane Goldman wrote this while high on something and simply poured their streams of consciousness onto a laptop at the local starbucks.

What the hell am I talking about?

So this kid, Dave Lizewski (Aaron Johnson), decides to become a super-hero to fight crime because he is dumbfounded that there has been none in real life. With a name like Kick-Ass, I'm sure everyone assumes it's going to be some crappy comedy. Crappy? Yes. Comedy? Sort of.

What absolutely killed this movie was how disjointed the story and writing was. It was a little funny, then it got a little dramatic, then slightly love story for just a second, then gorey Tarantino-inspired action movie (which had some pretty cool shoot em up scenes). This is the perfect example of how NOT to mix genres in a movie.

Just writing about this movie is pissing me off actually so I'm going to keep it short.

Villain, Frank D'Amico (played by Mark Strong) was a pretty vicious bad guy. Not crazy, just cold and calculating. Not a bad effort. Nicholas Cage (playing the hero "Big Daddy") put in another fairly ordinary performance as expected but Hit-Girl (Moretz) was actually pretty cool. She was pretty funny but she was also the centre of all the Tarantino-esque action sequences which were actually brilliant at times. All two of my stars go to Moretz and the action scenes in this movie.

Nobody else deserved anything.

Check out the trailer.

The Losers (2010) - MOVIE REVIEW

 
Director: Sylvain White
Starring: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Zoe Saldana, Chris Evans, Idris Elba, Jason Patric

Based on the Vertigo comic book series of the same name, The Losers is a film about a team of 5 ex-special forces members hunting down a man only known as Max (Jason Patric) who betrayed them and framed them into becoming enemies of the state. Max is also in possession of some high-tech equipment capable of destroying countries... blah blah blah you get the picture.

Jason Patric did the worst portrayal of a villain I have ever seen. It was so frickin painful to watch and it absolutely ruined this movie. He is what stood in between turning this into maybe a three and a half star movie. The "Losers" and Zoe Saldana (Avatar) played their parts well enough in an action movie where the fight scenes, explosions, special effects and comic relief make it what it is. The dynamic between Clay (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and Roque (Idris Elba) as leader and best friend was excellent. Both did really well with their parts. I'm a big fan of Idris Elba from his days on The Wire and Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Watchmen), who kind of reminds me of Javier Bardem was very cool.

I'm gonna finish with the villain again though. Jason Patric ruined this movie. I could think of 10 actors that would have done a better job and would have cost the studio the same amount of money. Mark Strong to name one.

If you can get past a douche bag performance from one guy, you'll enjoy this movie enough for it not to be a waste of time. Otherwise watch something else.

Check out the trailer