Journey 2: The Mysterious Island is a follow on to the 2008 worldwide hit “Journey to the Center of the Earth” which starred Brendan Fraser. In this one, Fraser has been unceremoniously replaced by former WWE star Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson who plays shunned step-dad Hank Parsons to spoiled Sean Anderson (Josh Hutcherson). As Hank [...]

As a heterosexual male, I am probably among the minority of those who have read Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books. I’m totally cool with that. I find the books funny enough without being degrading, intelligently written, and full of excellent, memorable characters. So I was more than a little leery when I heard that the [...]

Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson is back in his latest kid friendly flick, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island. He takes on the role of buff stepfather to Sean, the teenaged kid involved in the “Journey to the Center of the Earth” adventure. (Brendan Fraser couldn’t be bothered to make the sequel apparently). This adventure takes the [...]

Joe Carnahan’s The Grey falls in line with an intimate, frequently grueling genre of films that serve as potent reminders of why humankind builds cities. Pitting eternally grizzled survivor Liam Neeson and a dwindling crew of compatriots against a vicious, unrelenting nature, the film gets off to a strong start before mooring itself in thinly [...]

Casting for Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, Haywire must’ve started with an all-star poker match. Inviting talents like Channing Tatum, Michael Douglas, Antonio Banderas, Michael Fassbender, and Ewan McGregor for beer and gambling, the director, confident with his hand, decided to raise the ante. “How about we make this interesting? Relativity Media dumped me with a [...]

It is rare for a movie franchise to make it to a fourth film and be good. The Star Wars and Harry Potter franchises had it easy, hell, Star Wars technically started on its fourth installment and Harry Potter had its beloved stories directly handed to them. The Die Hard series had to work for [...]

Jesus Christ. You’d think by now that damn T-virus and the Umbrella Corporation responsible for it would be out of commission. Neither are, and so Screen Gems has added a fifth installment to their video game cross-over cash cow — Resident Evil: Retribution. If you were wondering what happens this time around, stop. It’s basically [...]

Anthony Hemingway (with assistance from George Lucas) has done something few directors have been ever able to achieve — he has created a war film almost completely devoid of drama, passion or interest. And given the subject matter of this movie, that’s an amazing statistic. Based on “true events,” Red Tails is a chronicle — [...]

I have a friend who once wrote a novel about an entire minor league stadium (players and fans alike) which is suddenly transported through a wormhole to third century Palestine. There, the modern-day folks meet Barabbas (who was freed in Jesus’s stead) roaming about the desert. The players and fans change Barabbas’ name to Barry [...]

Ong Bak 3 picks up exactly where its immediate predecessor ended. But can anyone actually recall the events of 2008’s disappointing Ong Bak 2: The Beginning? It was a dour mess; a confused jumble of leaden action scenes, montages and flashbacks without a modicum of comprehensible storytelling. Ong Bak 3 continues the decline in quality [...]

For Tony Jaa, 2003’s Ong-bak was essentially his debutante ball, as it introduced the nimble performer and his phenomenal fighting skills to worldwide movie-goers. Wirework and digital effects are the norm in this day and age, but Jaa is the real deal: He actually performs death-defying stunts and leaps, and actually lands brutal aerial blows [...]

Even though there are now two films in Guy Ritchie’s vision of the Sherlock Holmes universe (the first aptly titled Sherlock Holmes), I am still getting accustomed to the athletic, street fighting Holmes as opposed to the merely cerebral genius who used to chase suspects by horse and buggy rather than bash their brains out [...]

In the hands of an ordinary director, the hype surrounding Prometheus would amount to nothing more than a blip on the radar screen. In the hands of Ridley Scott, the man responsible for one of the best sci-fi horror flicks made (Alien), there is a tsunami of interest. In his latest, he explores the origin [...]

Georges Prosper Remi, better known by his pen name Hergé, was the revolutionary behind the Adventures of Tintin comic series, which he wrote and illustrated. Known for the meticulous research that went into each chapter, its vivid humanism, political satire and the “ligne claire” art style he used (and pioneered), which utilizes strong lines, cast [...]

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, the precursor to one of the best movie trilogies ever made (referring to The Lord of the Rings) has, after many restarts and hype, finally debuted its trailer. Many of the cast — Gandalf, Legolas, Elrond, Bilbo, Frodo — are back, this time to face off with the evil dragon [...]

This is certainly a step in the right direction. I’m speaking about the trailer to Wrath of the Titans, the follow-up to the much maligned Clash of the Titans remake. It looks as though Warner Bros. Pictures may have listened to the gripes of movie goers and come out with something with more action and [...]

Well, the wishes of hundreds of thousands of fanboys has been answered. The first official trailer for Warner Bros. Pictures’ The Dark Knight Rises has finally hit the web after its premiering over the weekend with Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. Being touted as the conclusion to Christopher Nolan’s visionary trilogy, the film pits [...]

The Church of Scientology must’ve numbed Tom Cruise to fear (or common sense) — it’s the only explanation for the stunts he does in Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol — because the actor dangles 100 stories in the air outside Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper. And although it’s awfully hard to believe he [...]

“The world’s darkest hero rides again.” I’m not sure if the Ghost Rider is the darkest hero per se, but he’s definitely got a dark streak running through him. In the second trailer for Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, he shows some of it off. Why? Well much to his chagrin, while “vacationing” in Europe, [...]

As if there was any doubt that a sequel to The Expendables, the not as good as it shoulda been action flick starring every action hero actor on Earth, would be made (although many secretly wished it wouldn’t). Details are scarce for Lionsgate’s The Expendables 2 — all we know is Church calls on the [...]

Because I was a big fan of Cobra Command in my youth, I smiled at the trailer for G.I. Joe: Retaliation when a large portion of the G.I. Joe team are shot to hell up. The smile faded shortly thereafter. Best as I can tell, this sequel (of the less than stellar G.I. Joe: The [...]

How does one inject new life into a successful franchise that has laid dormant for nine years? In the case of Men in Black 3, the answer is to introduce time travel! In this installment, agent J goes back in time to work with a younger agent K to uncover deeply guarded secrets pertinent to [...]

Haven’t Alex the Lion, Marty the Zebra, Melman the Giraffe or Gloria the Hippo made it back to their New York enclosures yet? I guess so long as DreamWorks Animation can come up with ways to keep them lost in the great big world they won’t. In Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted, the displaced zoo [...]

The primary creative force behind Lady Magdalene’s, J. Neil Schulman, may be somewhat of a successful novelist, but he cannot in good conscience add filmmaking to his list of credentials. While Schulman wants you to believe that Lady Magdalene’s is a smart action-comedy satirizing today’s post-9/11 climate, the resulting picture is actually an agonizing catastrophe; [...]

The teaser trailer for John Carter was light on pretty much everything but this full theatrical trailer for the movie released by Disney yesterday has got much more meat on its bones. Too bad, it looks so much like Avatar though. Finding himself on an alien planet, human John Carter is hailed as a savior [...]

Former WWE wrestler Steve Austin, it seems, has become the new luminary of straight-to-video action films. Arriving after Damage, The Stranger, Hunt to Kill and Knockout, 2011’s Tactical Force was made by newcomer writer-director Adamo P. Cultraro, and his inexperience shows. A high-gloss action-thriller, Tactical Force solely aimed to provide some brainless thrills, but it [...]

There’s a lot of hoopla surrounding Martin Scorsese’s latest, Hugo, which is the director’s introduction to family films, and the only one to utilize 3D technology. Not run-of-the-mill praise, I’ve heard phrases like “timeless,” “a masterpiece,” and “one of the best movies about filmmaking ever made,” being thrown about. And because I have no life [...]

2005’s low-budget, halfway-charming Hoodwinked! developed into a minor hit despite its humble origins, but does anyone out there honestly remember it? More pertinently, who genuinely wanted to see a sequel? Limping into cinemas almost six years after its predecessor, Hoodwinked Too! Hood vs. Evil is easily one of the worst animated movies ever made to [...]

It’s a curious situation when so many people get a kick at the same cinematic can and none of them can get it right. Is the material to blame? The filmmakers? The whole bloody idea? Let’s call it a three-way tie. Following in the footsteps of occasionally decent (but you wouldn’t know it from this [...]

Since the teaser, which was released in June, didn’t delve much into the story of Brave (choosing to instead focus on artistry and mystery), Disney-Pixar has finally released a full theatrical trailer which presents more of the story arc for their latest animated adventure. Denied allowance into the trials of the first borns because she [...]

I often feel like I don’t have enough time in the day to get everything done (I could always use a few more hours for movie watching!), but such complaining pales in comparison to the plight of the citizens of Andrew Niccol’s sci-fi parable In Time. For them, time is their lifeblood and not having [...]

American Gladiators has been resurrected. Well not really, but it is in a similar fashion that penance is paid to the rulers of Panem in Lionsgate’s upcoming film The Hunger Games. In the future, the 12 districts that comprise what was once North America, each submit one teenage girl and boy to take part in [...]

Tarsem Singh Dhandwar, known sometimes as Tarsem Singh or merely Tarsem (maybe just “T” one day), certainly has an affinity for pretty, shiny things. His third and shiniest film to date, the plodding, silly, wake-me-when-it’s-over Greek mythology pic Immortals has its fair share of impressive images. Well, more than its fair share, really. Every shot [...]

Would you be terribly surprised to hear that Jason Statham was starring in yet another actioner showcasing his hand to hand prowess? He is and you shouldn’t. In Safe, for which the first theatrical trailer was released by Lionsgate today, he is pitted against crooked NY police and the Chinese and Russian mafias. Instead of [...]

Every fairy tale deserves an updated telling, I suppose (notably Alice in Wonderland and Red Riding Hood). The latest, Snow White and the Huntsman, previewed it’s trailer today. In this rework, the lovely Sleeping Beauty, isn’t quite the pushover we remember as a toddler. The evil queen, who sucks the beauty from all she sees [...]

In 1999, American Pie had its main character violate a warm apple pie. In 2003, Billy Bob Thornton portrayed the most offensive, self-destructive, and felonious Santa anyone has ever imagined in Bad Santa. Now, attempting to grab the mantle of the most provoking and/or distasteful movie ever is A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. [...]

I must say, when Denzel Washington plays a badass motherfucker, no one can compare. In his latest, Safe House, he takes on the role of Tobin Frost, a wanted, rogue CIA agent — one responsible for the deaths of many agents and informants. When he suddenly turns up in Cape Town with a secret, all [...]

The world has changed a great deal in 12 years. Humans have learned of the existence of werewolves and vampires and are on a crusade to eradicate them. In the second trailer for Underworld: Awakening, Screen Gems gives a closer look at the key to the war — a hybrid child. Selene must use her [...]

In the late 1990’s, Sam Childers, a criminal and a member of a notorious Pennsylvania motorcycle gang, decided to change his ways and turned to God for guidance. From that point onwards he devoted his life to helping Sudanese orphans who were suffering at the hands of the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army). The LRA (led [...]

It’s the good, the bad, and the catty in Chris Miller’s Puss in Boots, the first action-packed spinoff of the Shrek series, and to the surprise of many, it not only provides viewers a much needed history lesson by explaining how everyone’s favorite swashbuckling orange tabby came to be the legend he is today, but [...]

The second trailer for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol arrived yesterday and I must say I’m now pumped to see the movie. After his covert team is disavowed by the government for an attack on the Kremlin, Ethan Hunt and his team — Benji Dunn, Jane Carter and Brandt — must work blind to clear [...]

Every year or so a claymation project gets greenlit, to, I suppose, offset the plethora of computer animated features clogging cineplexs nowadays. The feature for 2012 is The Pirates! Band of Misfits, a Sony Pictures Animation and Aardman production that borrows a story from Gideon Defoe’s The Pirates! book series. In this adventure, Pirate Captain [...]

Um . . . hmm . . . wow. I’m stupefied at what a colossal mess The Three Musketeers has been made into. Three of the more prominent heroes in history have been watered down to pathetic caricatures and, in their own movie, given a back seat to a nausea inducing 3D experience and to [...]

Butch Cassidy didn’t die! Both he and the Sundance Kid somehow made it out alive at the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and escaped certain death at the hands of the Bolivian Army. Flash forward 20 years and Butch, now known as James Blackthorn (Sam Shepard), is still in Bolivia and living [...]

A second trailer for Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows has been made available for viewing by Warner Bros. Pictures. This trailer markets more of the action — the train sequence is highlighted more as is the artillery shelling woods scene in which bullet time trickery is used with gusto. It’s also got [...]

Hold onto your gonads — the trailer for the most anticipated film in history, The Avengers, is here. Because there are battles that conventional human beings can’t fight, SHIELD director Nick Fury sets to build a team of super protectors that can. Enter: Thor, Black Widow, Captain America, Iron Man and Hawkeye (and perhaps Hulk?). [...]

Real Steel, directed by Shawn Levy, is about an estranged father and son who learn to bond with each other through the medium of boxing robots. It’s the year 2020 and robots have replaced humans as the gladiators in the boxing ring. Former boxer Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is unsuccessfully trying to make ends meet [...]

The second, and last, theatrical trailer for DreamWorks Animation’s Puss in Boots has made its way to the web. In this origin story, the swashbuckling Puss in Boots goes on a quest for the Goose that lays the Golden Egg with new characters Humpty Dumpty and Kitty Softpaws. Along the way, expect many kid and [...]

The Emperor is dead and next in line to replace him is a woman. Never in the history of China has there been an Empress. As her coronation draws closer, loyalties are tested, schemes are rumored, and when people start to literally burst into flames, the stakes can be no higher for all involved. This [...]

Ah, those lovable, enchanted, small blue creatures known as the Smurfs — many of us Generation Xers grew up with Peyo’s creation on Saturday morning with a bowl of cereal. Our children have not, and seeing a vast untapped resource, Sony Pictures decided to do a remake of the classic cartoon. Now some critics have [...]

Bellflower is the result of some filthy filmmaking. I do not mean that as they did a poor job, far from it. I mean the shots are so real and intense you can almost smell sweat and whiskey infused body order while sitting in an air conditioned theater. There is a road trip scene where [...]

Killer Elite is saddled with a vague and forgettable title but at least it sounds more lethal than “The Feather Men,” the book it is based upon written by Sir Ranulph Fiennes (face it, an evil cabal known as the Feather Men does not inspire too much fear). These ex-SAS (Special Air Service) members, and [...]

Somewhat competent yet unremarkable, Assassination Games is another low-budget action-thriller of the well-worn hitman subgenre variety. The big draw of this otherwise undistinguished action fare is that it stars aging action icon Jean-Claude Van Damme and rising star Scott Adkins, both of whom are incredible fighters both on and off the screen. However, while Assassination [...]

I did not enjoy Abduction, but not for the reasons you might suspect. While there are many to address, I want to assure you that none of my negative points will verbally lambast lead actor Taylor Lautner just because “he’s that guy from Twilight.” Nor will I make scalding references to his gratuitous lack of [...]

Man vs. Wild is one way to explain Open Road Films’ The Grey, although that’s a simple comparison. After a plane crashes in the pristine Alaskan wilderness, a group of survivors must battle the harsh elements and a pack of hungry grey wolves — some, to say the least, are luckier than others. I’d like [...]

Out of all the unlikely sequels to materialize over recent years, Johnny English Reborn would have to be the most unexpected. While 2003′s Johnny English enjoyed a healthy run at the box office, it endured a harsh reception from both critics and audiences, and sequel prospects were never really discussed. Arriving eight years after its [...]

The Driver (Ryan Gosling) has no need for a name. He embodies his job description — a Hollywood stunt driver who moonlights as a getaway driver. Life outside of the 1973 Chevy Malibu, his vehicle of choice, is anonymous. That is, until Irene (Carey Mulligan), who lives down the hall, walks into the Driver’s life. [...]

In a well timed release (it is currently showing at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) and receiving high praise), comes the first trailer for the Indonesian action flick The Raid. This high octane shoot ‘em up and kick their ass fest follows a team of highly trained SWAT officers as they raid a heavily [...]

It’s all in a touch — love, rage, suffering and happiness are all defined by our proximity to one another. Even a soldier a thousand miles away staring at a screen that a drone projects back to him needs to press a key to make an insurgent disappear. Steven Soderbergh’s fitfully disturbing and fully realized [...]

There’s nothing that makes a grown man cry like a good sports movie. It might be the love of the competition or a nostalgic recapturing of the dreams most young boys have of being a giant sports star with ultimate glory in sight. Boxing films, in particular, have been some of the most successfully tear-jerking [...]

Entire essays — books even — can be devoted to describing Zoe Saldana’s beauty. Everything from her eyes and sun kissed skin to her perfectly toned body makes her every man’s epitomic woman. And Oliver Megaton’s Colombiana was clearly devoted for an actress of her picturesque appearance. Penned by Luc Besson and Robert Mark Karmen, [...]

Johnny Depp must be a kindred spirit to Hunter S. Thompson (as well as Tim Burton), as he is starring in his third Thompson written and/or inspired movie. The Rum Diary, for which the first trailer was released, has him playing a slightly off center journalist who moves to Puerto Rico to start afresh. While [...]

In 1991 Columbia Pictures introduced you to an extraordinary new filmmaker, and an unforgettable new vision. The director was 23-year-old John Singleton, the film, Boyz ‘N the Hood. Next year, the studio presented a remarkable new film, from another phenomenal talent. The film was Robert Rodriguez’s El Mariachi (the above is a tongue-in-cheek reference to [...]

Some bud, a couple of drunken girls, and a bass-heavy soundtrack seem to be the inspiration behind the sophomoric Conan the Barbarian, a remake of an equally bad 1982 motion picture of the same name. It’s a film that was probably scribbled on a memo pad by a frat boy who had one too many [...]

Admit, you secretly watch Ghost Rider every time it comes on basic cable (it is a guilty pleasure like eating Bonbons or listening to Celine Dion). Well, guess what? Johnny Blaze is back and so is Nicolas Cage in Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance! This time around, he’s battling the devil for the life of [...]

Biker gangs ain’t all bad. Well, actually they are, but not all their members are rotten to the core. Take Sam Childers for instance, the man the new movie Machine Gun Preacher is based upon. Realizing his path in life was off course, he turned his back on a life of crime and turned to [...]

You can’t keep a good vampire down. Especially one that looks so good in a tight fitting leather outfit. In this installment, 12 years have passed and the battle has changed from vampire vs. vampire and vampire vs. werewolf to human vs. vampire and werewolf. The trailer for Underworld: Awakening, released by Screen Gems today, [...]

The third trailer for Relativity’s Greek epic Immortals has been released. In it is a more fleshed out story outlining the reason for the battle between King Hyperion, his army of banished Titans and those who, backed by the all powerful Gods, resist him (led by the warrior Theseus). The trailer is very well put [...]

Paul Giamatti is a damn fine actor. Not so good, that he can produce diamonds from a pile of shit, though. As a matter of fact, with his silly haircut (yes, I know it was fitting for the time period) and his lack of a consistent English accent, he adds to the shitty mess that [...]

Similar to what Paul Greengrass accomplished with 2010′s Green Zone, 5 Days of War represents a merger of fact and fiction; weaving facets of the 2008 Russo-Georgian war into a predominantly fictional story about journalists caught in the crossfire. Finnish director Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) took the director’s chair here, and attempted to [...]

Before I begin, there is something I need to get off my chest. Rise of the Planet of the Apes? I can understand the producers’ desire to link this film with the rest of the series, but I’m sure audiences would’ve made the same connection if it was just called Rise of the Apes (or [...]

The second half of 2011 is seeing a resurgence of the alien invasion flick with Attack the Block and Cowboys & Aliens recently being released. Today Summit Entertainment presents to the web the trailer for the latest invasion movie, The Darkest Hour. And trust me when I tell you this one ain’t no joke. Breaking [...]

Anyone who has read my review for 2010′s misfire, Jonah Hex, knows that I love genre-mashing. I adore it especially if it’s something being meshed with a Western. Now imagine my glee when I heard Cowboys & Aliens being announced. Then came out that Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Sam Rockwell, Olivia Wilde, and Paul Dano [...]

Sometimes the little guy gets the last laugh. Most times they don’t. With Tower Heist we can at least laugh as the little guy tries to get even with the powerful. After a Bernie Madoff type of scam sucks the pensions of hundreds of working stiffs dry, they aim to get even. Their plan? Since [...]

Anyone who has gone to high school in the U.S. remembers those lectures about the American Dream, but never has someone mentioned Captain America, a man who epitomizes it. Created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby in 1941, Captain America became the comic-book world’s most nationalistic superhero. And though the serial was meant as a [...]

The appetite for driving fast in movies will never be satisfied. Drive Angry 3D and Transporter 3 are two recenter(?) movies with a theme that is conducive to lots of car chases and crashes. FilmDistrict, at Comic-Con, unveiled a trailer for their entrant into the genre: Drive. Basically, they replaced a man who delivers things [...]

Two days ago it was the teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises. Today Columbia Pictures and Marvel Studios released the anticipated teaser trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man. It’s hard to imagine the highly successful franchise getting a reboot already, but it is and this version, on the surface, looks to have a darker theme [...]

The teaser trailer for The Dark Knight Rises, the final installment of Christopher Nolan’s telling of the Batman story, is here. Finally. Even though this sneak peak doesn’t give away much, it still does just enough to get the adrenaline pumping. Watch below and crave for more. The Dark Knight Rises stars Christian Bale, Joseph [...]

They say war is hell, and this age-old cliché has been exemplified in pretty much every war picture to date. 2008′s Outpost is a film which literalizes this adage, incorporating the horrors of war into a traditional horror picture. Every now and again, a small-time, low-budget horror film comes out of nowhere to catch genre [...]

Finales of this magnitude usually come about once every few years for television shows, but very rarely for feature films. However, this is most certainly the case for the epic conclusion to the Harry Potter series, filled with equal parts fan-servicing closure and genuinely emotive scenes for those less devout followers like myself. Personally, Harry [...]

Talk about culture shock. Imagine waking up decades into the future on a foreign planet surrounded by hostile green aliens. I’d prefer not to, but that’s how John Carter finds himself. Aside from that, we don’t get much else from the teaser trailer of John Carter. From a cinematic standpoint, however, the picture definitely appears [...]

Besides a nuclear disaster, one of the biggest fears any government can have is the outbreak of a fast spreading, lethal virus. And it is this premise that the upcoming thriller Contagion delivers on. How does the populace react as more and more people fall victim? How will the government handle the growing fear (both [...]

There is a new threat for the infamous English detective Sherlock Holmes in Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. His name is Professor Moriarty. Holme’s intellectual equal, Moriarty has hatched a grand scheme with the sole purpose of shifting the balance of world power. Holmes, with a tag along fortune teller named Sim and his [...]

A follow-up international trailer for The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn has been made available by Paramount Pictures. Expanding greatly on the first trailer, this one delves further into the mystery surrounding the Unicorn and those that wish to wrest its answers and bounty from the hands of the boy reporter. The film [...]

We’ve seen a so-so theatrical trailer and a so-so bloodier red-band trailer; today Lionsgate delivers a new UK trailer for Conan the Barbarian. This one provides more of the backstory as to how Conan became the barbarian that he is — his village is destroyed and his family is murdered at the hands of Khalar [...]

Lord have mercy. Aroma-scope. Really? You won’t get the full effect from the gimmick in the first full theatrical trailer for Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World (thankfully) but it’ll be there in some form or another when it makes its way into theaters. One can only hope that Robert Rodriguez will [...]

Late last night Paramount Pictures dropped the first trailer for Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. In a strange twist, the J.J. Abrams written and produced actioner see Ethan Hunt and his covert team on the run — getting pinned for the bombing of the Kremlin and being labelled terrorists by their own government. They’re mission, [...]

After a fine first effort in the action/adventure department with Transformers, the series ran into major writer’s block (as well as a writer’s strike) with the horrid second installment, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. And while still not up to the inaugural’s standard, the newest release, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, is a decent addition [...]

A new take on the legendary Musketeers is nearing. Announcing its pending arrival is another theatrical trailer for Paul W.S. Anderson’s The Three Musketeers. Shot entirely in 3D, the film boasts massively choreographed sword and gun fights as well as battles with bomb-laden blimps! All this in support of a story that has the three [...]

The teaser trailer for Disney-Pixar’s upcoming animated adventure Brave is available for viewing. It is a story about an unruly princess, who through her defiant actions, brings chaos to the kingdom. To undue her mistake, she sets out on a mission with three Lords to retrieve a wish from a questionable source. Sure to be [...]

It’s ancient times and, once again, the survival of humanity hangs in the balance. No, the Gods aren’t leveling the people because of their blasphemies this time, it’s a power-mad king named Hyperion causing the destruction. In his quest for the Bow of Epirus — a weapon that will even make the Gods of Olympus [...]

Ride ‘em cowboy! The latest trailer for Cowboys & Aliens has arrived. Based off of a successful graphic novel, the movie tells the tale of Absolution, an old West town, and their fight against invading aliens. Easier said than done (aliens have spaceships and lasers, Westerners have horses and Colt 45s), that is until a [...]

The last time that former visual effects technician Scott Charles Stewart directed Paul Bettany in a motion picture, the result was 2010′s quite literally God-awful Legion. Loosely based on the South Korean comic series of the same name, 2011′s Priest is an improvement over Legion . . . but not by much. As befitting of [...]

Lightning McQueen: Mater, you ARE the bomb. Never have truer words been spoken in a movie, and never have I had the displeasure to pronounce a Pixar film a failure — until now. Cars 2, the sequel to the 2005 runaway animated hit Cars, misfires on so many cylinders, it becomes a huge lemon long [...]

In 2003 Brian Douglas Wells, a high school dropout, pizza deliveryman, and “valued employee” of the Mama Mia Pizzeria, was double-crossed by Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong and Kenneth Barnes, his co-conspirators in a botched robbery plot. On the afternoon of August 28th, at the end of a dirt road, the crooks fastened a time bomb to Wells’ [...]

A new trailer for Captain America: The First Avenger has been made available by Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures. Like the previous trailers, the action is toned down and more emphasis is put towards the back story of how Steve Rogers morphs into the iconic Captain America. Truth be told I initially was as high [...]

Action fans rejoice; the trailer for Killer Elite, the first high octane actioner of 2011 is here. Supposedly based on a true story, the movie follows the carnage wreaked by a retired British Elite Operative as he races to save his mentor from the clutches of three assassins. Okay, De Niro’s days as a testosterone [...]

What a little gem of a film. Many would put it in the often-mentioned “best films you’ve never seen” category, and I would not be one to argue. Shane Black sits in the director’s chair for the first (and to date, only) time and co-wrote the screenplay to this part murder-mystery, part comedy movie that [...]

Origin stories aren’t just for Marvel or DC superhero movies anymore — DreamWorks Animation Studio’s Puss in Boots is taking a page from its hero brethren. With the closing of the cash cow that was the Shrek film series, it was only natural for the studio to spin-off one of the more memorable characters. The [...]

A friend of mine once argued about the redundancy behind DC Comics; its name, he claimed, originally stood for Detective Comics, thus by adding an extra ‘comics’ at the end, one is left with the awkwardly titled Detective Comics Comics. Though, despite the discrepancy behind the publisher’s name, it has remained a powerhouse in the [...]

A bloodier red-band trailer for Conan the Barbarian has been released by Lionsgate today. Personally, I’m becoming less enthused about the film — the accompanying music leaves a lot to be desired, the blood effects (of which there are many scenes of) looks hokey and the limited dialogue just seems off. I’m not going to [...]

This is it. What is being touted as the final trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has been made available by Warner Bros. Pictures. Increasingly darker than its predecessors, the story culminates with the final battle between good and evil, between Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter. I’ll say it again (said [...]

20th Century Fox has released the second theatrical trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes. In it, the foundation of Caesar, the leader of the ape rebellion is laid out. A highlight of this trailer, as in the first, is the lifelike modeling of the primates by Weta Digital, which could be argued [...]

The Uncanny X-Men are back in their best adventure since X2! In X-Men: First Class, we see, in fantastic fashion, what transpired to form them together (and tear them apart), and are fed interesting treats (especially to any hardcore buffs) like how Magneto got his helmet, who the superhero Darwin was, and even how the [...]

A late-2010 picture delivered by the DreamWorks animation factory, Megamind can best be described as Pixar’s The Incredibles meets Despicable Me. See, Megamind is a clever dissection of superhero movie conventions which functions as a character study of the supervillain. In the realm of superhero movies, there is always one given: The hero always wins. [...]

The premise for 2008′s Kung Fu Panda was conceptualized by a DreamWorks Animation executive, Michael Lachance, and has been around since the early ’90s. When it finally released, the production (directed by John Wayne Stevenson and Mark Osborne) slowly became a financial and critical success for the studio. In fact, the story of Po (voiced [...]

While there have been some great films of the alien invasion genre, many of the biggest have been the most lackluster — from the mediocre Independence Day to the horrid Battle: Los Angeles. Instead, the best invasion films that come to mind are usually those that depict isolated incidents in small towns or at remote [...]

Fa la lalalala fa lala la laaa — the smurfy blue creatures from our 19080s Saturday morning cartoons are coming to the big screen in The Smurfs. In a 3D (2D too) offering from Columbia Pictures and Sony Pictures Animation, Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Grouchy Smurf, Jokey Smurf and a bunch of other adjective named Smurfs [...]

To begin this review, let’s get one thing straight: despite the misleading name, Titanic II is not an official sequel to James Cameron’s big-budget retelling of the Titanic disaster. Nevertheless, a film entitled Titanic II is sure to seem like a bad joke, even after watching the official trailer or spying the DVD cover at [...]

You aren’t going to get the full effect here, but a new trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon is now showing in 3D. To really enjoy it, you’ll have to see it during a viewing of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (which you should be going out to watch any way.) This [...]

The much talked about trailer for The Adventures of Tintin: Secret of the Unicorn has arrived. In it (although this teaser trailer doesn’t divulge much), the young reporter finds himself — and his trusty dog Snowy — embroiled in a mystery involving ancestral and pirate lore while on the trail of sunken treasure. In the [...]

There are many people who love the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, although seeing the awfulness that was The Country Bears and knowing that The Haunted Mansion was soon to follow, the film just seemed like a similar ploy for Disney to pillage their old tourist attractions and try [...]

The latest trailer for Cars 2 has arrived. In the Disney•Pixar follow-up to the oft-criticized Cars, Lightning McQueen and his cadre of friends from Radiator Springs travel the globe to compete in the first-ever World Grand Prix to determine the world’s fastest car. This time, however, it isn’t all about the egotistical McQueen getting a [...]

Since I have never read a Thor comic book (don’t intend to either), nor do I have much insight into the Norse mythology from which he spawned, I really had no idea as to what kind of story to expect from the heavily hyped Thor (the trailers weren’t much help). But thanks in part to [...]

A cold-blooded assassin never looked so damn good. And that’s because she’s Zoe Saldana — a hitwoman by trade and murderess of those responsible for her parents death at night. The new 2:20 trailer for Colombiana shows a lot of promise (which should be no surprise as Luc Besson and Robert Mark Kamen, the brainiacs [...]

A second trailer for the grittier and bloodier reboot of Conan the Barbarian has been released by Lionsgate today. It appears to be a closer depiction to what Robert E. Howard wrote, but it still seems to be missing what I want from my Conan movie — the indiscriminate bedding of scantily-clad women, the drinking [...]

The second theatrical trailer for the Green Lantern has been available today by Warner Bros. Pictures. I’m still scratching my head as to why a B-list comic character has been made into a such a high profile movie but from what is shown here my interest has been re-piqued (the first trailer was a complete [...]

Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li is not only a compelling contender for the worst film of 2009, but it’s also a contender for the worst film of all time! This second attempt at a screen adaptation of the revered Capcom video game series is unbelievably awful in every aspect. Generic action sequences, atrocious acting, [...]

If you thought the Decepticons were going to go away that easily, boy you were wrong. Paramount Pictures has finally launched the second official trailer for Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Megatron, et al appear to have found a new way to tilt the balance of power to their side. In doing so, Transformers: [...]

Although it inevitably will be lumped in with the films of the modern Grindhouse movement (Planet Terror, Death Proof, Machete), Hobo with a Shotgun really doesn’t have the aesthetic style of the films that it is mimicking. Outside of its high concept, the film owes more to Tarantino and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse double feature (or many [...]

Finally. Your craving has been satisfied and your Hogwartsian prayers have been answered. The trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 has arrived and, even if I do say so myself (coming from a person who thought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was a bit of a letdown), it [...]

What is probably the final trailer for X-Men: First Class, has been made available by 20th Century Fox via Yahoo! today ahead of the film’s highly anticipated June release. This latest extended teaser drops more visuals as to the looks, powers and relationships of the mutant teams and further establishes the philosophical differences between their [...]

The concept of an Australian comedy featuring the once-in-a-lifetime pairing-up of Paul “Crocodile Dundee” Hogan and Shane “Kenny” Jacobson would appear foolproof. And while this movie doesn’t live up to all of its potential, Charlie & Boots (the sophomore effort of director Dean Murphy, who previously collaborated with Paul Hogan for 2004′s Strange Bedfellows) is [...]

Making a sequel to a film is never normally a good thing — they excite all the fans of the previous film and then ultimately disappoint them with a production that is not better (and in some cases, far worse) than the original. This same argument can generally be applied to reboots (or to purists, [...]

Pizza delivery isn’t all about getting to screw lonely housewives (Loverboy). Sometimes these front-liners can get kidnapped and forced to rob a bank as the expletive-ridden, new R-rated trailer for 30 Minutes or Less shows us. Something tells me this action-comedy directed by Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland) is going to be one to not miss this [...]

Consisting of five main volumes and three supplemental books, Rick Riordan’s popular Percy Jackson series must have been an easy sell for any studio. It contains heroes, villains, monsters, wish fulfilment, and epic feats of magic and courage while also tackling popular Greek mythology. Topping this off, the whole package is reminiscent of Harry Potter. [...]

While the title of From Paris with Love may imply that it’s a romantic comedy featuring the Eiffel Tower, the title is in fact a James Bond homage, and the production is a hardcore, no-holds-barred action flick which arrives courtesy of Luc Besson’s production factory. For those unaware, Besson is the French filmmaker who produces [...]

Rio de Janeiro — it’s the only place in the world where a tranquil shot of birds chirping their way through the thick greenery can erupt into a grandiose tribal orchestra. Doing away with the mammoths and icecaps of his previous works, director Carlos Saldanha (the Ice Age series) places immense care in representing his [...]

The second trailer for John Favreau’s highly anticipated adaptation of the graphic novel by Scott Mitchell Rosenberg, Cowboys & Aliens, has arrived. While it is filled to the brim with alien crafts, abductions and gun fights (Colt 6-shooters versus lasers), it still keeps how the the aliens appear masked and leaves the mysterious backstories for [...]

Ever wonder how the apes rose up and conquered Earth? The first trailer for Rise of the Planet of the Apes lays it out for you — genetic engineering with the best of intentions gone wrong. The story may be derivative, however, the movie is sure to excel in the visual effects department (Weta Digital, [...]

Judging from this second trailer for Priest, no expense has been sparred for the action and look of this post-apocalyptic thriller loosely based on a popular Korean comic. In it, a warrior priest, acting against the Church’s wishes, tracks down a group of vampires that have kidnapped his niece. Helping with his endeavor is a [...]

Almost exactly one year ago Kick-Ass, directed by upcoming X-Men: First Class filmmaker Matthew Vaughn, opened to little business and reasonable critical success. Adapted from the popular Mark Millar graphic novel, the film follows a young New York teen as he tries to become a superhero in the real world. Now enter James Gunn’s Super [...]

Suffice it to say, expectations play a sizeable role in any viewer’s enjoyment of a film. In the case of 2009′s Ninja, it would be impossible to watch the flick with high expectations — the cover of the DVD/Blu-ray is admittedly nifty enough to gain some attention, but it is nonetheless a low-budget direct-to-DVD ninja [...]

Amidst the Arctic Circle’s barren snowcaps, Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) hunts. With nothing more than a bow-and-arrow, she kills a deer, although to her disappointment, she missed her mark — the creature’s heart. She finishes the job with a pistol — a stare down with the animal’s bloodshot eyes revealing a sense of humanity and sympathy, [...]

For a screenwriter, period pieces tend to be difficult — especially if they’re set in medieval times — dialogue being restricted to olden diction isn’t the easiest to write. However, with director David Gordon Green’s latest, which is an awkward mix of stoner comedy and medieval epic, that problem is quickly dispelled. How, you may [...]

Hannibal Lecter is the perfect example of a sociopath — a man who can think up and carry out unspeakable horrors without so much as batting an eyelash. Lord Naritsugu Matsudaira, in 13 Assassins, is the perfect example of a sociopath with unlimited power and influence. He rapes, mutilates and murders with impunity. Even more [...]

Uwe Boll (which is German for “Appalling Filmmaker”) has made a living over recent years (and has angered a great deal of people) by transforming beloved video game properties into epically awful movies. As a result, the cultural landscape has become tragically cluttered with unwatchable motion pictures such as House of the Dead, BloodRayne, Alone [...]

If you’re familiar with low-budget horror flicks and/or video-game-to-movie adaptations, chances are you’ve heard of Uwe Boll. Even if you’re not familiar with Boll’s cinematic output, you’ve more than likely heard opinions on the guy’s work, and, in all likelihood, those opinions have not exactly been complimentary. If Boll’s work and name is a mystery [...]

One must admit, it takes serious guts to entitle a film The Losers, since lame jokes are just begging to be cracked. Already, the critics who panned this appalling motion picture have utilized the obvious, “The losers are in fact the audience” in addition to the also obvious, “What were you expecting? It’s called The [...]

Much like Duncan Jones’ freshman endeavor, Moon, a film that was eclipsed (pun intended) at first, but which then skyrocketed to unprecedented levels of success during award season, Source Code is a cerebral thriller that takes an unorthodox approach to popcorn cinema. The similarities don’t end there, however; although both films were penned by different [...]

At first glance, Tomorrow, When the War Began — the filmic adaptation of the hugely popular teen fiction novel by John Marsden — appears to be a cheap Australian amalgam of Red Dawn and The Breakfast Club. Despite these superficial observations, this directorial debut for Stuart Beattie is a thrilling character-driven action-adventure film, and a [...]

The Horseman is an Australian addition to the long line of “vigilante dad” films that stretch back to Ingmar Bergman’s The Virgin Spring, in which a father — normally either a widower or a divorcee — is made a tad nutty by grief, and begins ruthlessly slaughtering those responsible for a crime against a loved [...]

Not everyone may share the same opinion, but this reviewer immensely enjoyed Paul W.S. Anderson’s Death Race. It’s cinematic junk food, sure, but the big dumb fun aspect and the expert action sequences made it easy to dismiss the cold critical heart in this reviewer’s chest and forget that critics are supposed to hate exploitation [...]

It is absolutely beyond this reviewer’s mental parameters as to why Wild Target endured such a ruthless critical reception during its fleeting theatrical run in 2010. Perhaps it depends on mood and expectations, but Wild Target is a wonderfully droll, effortlessly charming and spry action-comedy from the British school of black humor. Rarely less than [...]

Zack Snyder just hasn’t made the same impact on me that he apparently has on the rest of the movie going population. I enjoy his work, but it always seems like there’s something to be desired when his films finally fade to black. With Sucker Punch, Snyder isn’t really looking to change the formula his [...]

General Pang Qing Yun (Jet Li) is the sole survivor of his entire battalion; the Ching army he commanded was decimated by the Taiping rebels in Hechuan. Seeking refuge, Pang retreats to a small town and ends up spending the night with a woman named Lian (Jinglei Xu). The next morning, he awakens alone, but [...]

The first trailer of the eagerly awaited Captain America: The First Avenger has finally dropped. If you were anticipating some major action set pieces, however, you’re going to be slightly disappointed — this trailer touches more upon the how Captain America came into being than the what Captain America does to the Red Skull and [...]

Ahoy Mateys! The theatrical trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth installment of the highly prized Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, has been released into the wild. The film, starring Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow, Ian McShane as the ruthless pirate Blackbeard, Geoffrey Rush as Captain Hector Barbossa, Kevin R. [...]

In a futuristic world, an organization called The Union has created highly developed and highly priced mechanical organs. These organs can be purchased by anyone for any reason — if, however, they’re unable to pay the incredibly steep full price (usually somewhere in the hundreds of thousands of dollars), they’ve got two choices: Make monthly [...]

Contrary to what Americans like to believe, the United States wasn’t built on peace and love — the fountain on which it stands will always be violence. As colonists, we deceived and slaughtered the Native people. Later, we held slaves for profit. Now, once again, we’re fighting a war based on greed. Looking back, it [...]

Try as he may, Robert Zemekis cannot find his way out of the uncanny valley — that deep gorge where his other forays into motion-capture like The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol have fallen. For those who are unaware of what this valley is, look at the “human” faces in any of those [...]

This may be a first. Usually movies involving aliens from another planet are either of the cute M&M eating or the conquer and/or destroy Earth variety. The alien in Paul — looking and acting much like Roger from American Dad! — is of the quick witted, pot smoking, foul mouthed variety. Precisely the demeanor of [...]

13 years have passed since Alice first visited Wonderland. She was just a little girl back then — a mad, little girl plagued by a nightmare. Now, almost 20, Alice finds herself thrust headfirst into adulthood yet continues to have the same dream for as long as she can remember. On the verge of being [...]

Director Gore Verbinski himself has admitted that Rango was meant only as a “small” break from the widely-successful Pirates of the Caribbean series. To his surprise, however, animated filmmaking was not the piece of cake that he had expected and his short detour into the Mojave Desert was scaled into a more serious production. Fortunately, [...]

The fate of three Korean men changed the day their paths crossed on a train in Manchuria during the 1930s. A plan is put into motion to steal a map riding on that very train that leads to something extremely valuable. Chang-Yi (Byung-hun Lee), the most wanted bandit in Manchuria, is hired to steal the [...]

Ip Man is still the only martial arts film I’ve ever given a perfect score. Similar films usually throw in those silly bits of humor that come off as lame rather than actually being humorous. It probably hits its target overseas audience well, but the difference in culture probably has something to do with how [...]

Exploitation films are an acquired taste. Much like fermented tofu, you either love it or find the very idea disgusting (most people fall into the latter category). Fortunately, although the inception of VHS-tapes brought an end to the grindhouses and drive-through theaters that catered to such cinema, there are still filmmakers dedicated to the art-form. [...]

Regardless of what other people say, creativity is the lifeblood of any civilization. You think that without visionaries we’d have computers, automobiles, and toilet paper? No, we’d still be Neanderthals and trust me, wiping your ass with leaves isn’t as appealing as it sounds. Then again, that brings up the question: Where’d all the inventiveness [...]

In 120 A.D. the Roman army’s Ninth Legion marched into Northern Britain (which was apparently left uninhabited) never to be seen again. In response, Emperor Hadrian built an expansive wall to cut off the north from the rest of his empire. Fast forward 20 years and in the Roman-occupied South, Marcus Aquila (Channing Tatum), the [...]

Stephanie Meyer is the Antichrist. Because of her damned formula of “girl meets boy, boy turns out to be a freak (albeit a very attractive freak), boy and girl fall in love and decide to have demented demon babies (yes, I went as far as to spoil the end of the Twilight series — sue [...]

The unknown is scary for a lot of people (myself included), as I find even the smallest of prospects (i.e., the women’s restroom) to be vast and dangerous. However, some brave souls dream of exploring the unexplored. In fact, some make it their life’s work; one example being deep-sea divers, who find pleasure in discerning [...]

Although I hadn’t seen the original 1970s Charles Bronson flick, it wasn’t difficult to figure out rather quickly what the plot trajectory for The Mechanic was. This isn’t necessarily a death knell for an action movie — what is is the lack of any heart thumping action. And that people, is exactly the case here; [...]

The Green Hornet is a character unbeknownst to most people. Starting as an obscure radio series by George W. Trendle, “The Green Hornet” became a fan-favorite for those enjoying “pulp-heroes” at the time. So it comes as no surprise that some poor sap (most likely an intern) working in Hollywood was forced to dig up [...]

Watching Sylvester Stallone’s new movie The Expendables is like attending a high school reunion — it’s lovely to see everyone again but they’ve all filled out a bit and become a bit old and past it. Having said that, the action stars of yesteryear are still believable when it comes to pulling off the stunts [...]

The first scene of Dominic Sena’s new film, Season of the Witch (penned by Bragi F. Schut), a follow-up to his idiotic Whiteout, chronicles the hanging of three accused witches at the hands of a group of religious zealots in Viccah, a fictional town, in 1235 A.D. This scene is meant to make the Catholic [...]

What would you do if you knew where a bear lived that could construct complex machinery, carry on an intellectual conversation, and didn’t like the taste of human flesh? You’d exploit it for money of course — especially if it was the only way to save your livelihood. Have it perform a one bear show [...]

Henry Hathaway’s 1969 film True Grit is the definitive spaghetti western: A rowdy tale of three mismatched Western flavors that travel together in hopes of capturing Tom Chaney (Jeff Corey), a man wanted for two counts of murder — one for a loving father, Frank Ross, who Chaney kills following a debacle at the poker-table [...]

Spike Jonze’s visual retelling of Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are chronicles the story of Max (Max Records), a young boy who feels abandoned by his mother (Catherine Keener) and his sister (Pepita Emmerichs). He runs away to a world of his own, which is inhabited by large creatures, which sport large sharp chompers, [...]

Tron: Legacy is a film that has been hinted at since the 1990s, however, excitement sky-rocketed in 2008 after a teaser trailer, helmed by Joseph Kosinski, was screened at the San Diego comic con. Of course, reception was spectacular, thus allowing Disney to green-light a sequel to one of their most subtly darkest (and in [...]

If you’ve ever wondered what an East (as in the Orient) meets West (as in the Wild Wild West) meets exaggerated computer effects movie looks like, well then, The Warrior’s Way was meant for you. It’s got ninjas. It’s got gunslingers, both good and bad. And it’s got circus folk. Yep, those wandering entertainers that [...]

It will be 2014 or later when the seventh installment of C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia saga finishes up its cinematic run. That’s a long way away and, if I were a betting man, I wouldn’t dare put a wager on seeing that happening. That’s because the third of the series — The Chronicles [...]

Usually when a guy, who goes on a rant in the ticket line, enters to see the same movie as you, it’s hard not to frown. Though in the case of George Tillman Jr.’s Faster, which was penned by Tony and Joe Gayton, I couldn’t help but smile profusely. That’s because his “profound” commentary during [...]

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nine years since the release of Chris Columbus’ Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone and it’s even harder to believe how much of a cultural phenomenon this big-screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling’s series of novels has become. In fact, Daniel Radcliffe, who has played Harry Potter over the [...]

What would you do to stay alive? Kill another human being? How about torture and mutilate them horribly? In a much gorified fashion, the Saw series tasked individuals in a “game” with answering these and more damning questions. Breaking away from the simplistic horror angle, Danny Boyle instead ties this question to a harrowing real [...]

A film about a runaway train would appear to be pretty one dimensional — on the surface there are only so many ways you can dress it up. You’d be pleasantly surprised to find that Unstoppable, Tony Scott’s latest, about such a train, offers more than just an angry locomotive hurtling down a track. It [...]

Ten years ago a group of skateboarders, bmxers and stoners, already getting paid for doing crazy stunts on the circuit (and in their backyards), armed themselves with a video camera and captured themselves doing painfully insane pranks and tricks on one another. It was a MTV hit and it was good. Capitalizing on the success [...]

“You just got your ass handed to you by a goddamn retiree.” This one quote pretty much sums up all there is to know about director Robert Schwentke’s latest film Red (an acronym for “Retired Extremely Dangerous”), which features an all-star cast that consists of Bruce Willis and Mary-Louise Parker in the lead and Morgan [...]

I can only imagine what went through author Kathryn Lasky’s head when she envisioned her

If there’s anyone deserving of the electric chair, it’s Paul W.S. Anderson. Now I say this for a couple of reasons — most of which stem from a recent interview with the popular site, Rotten Tomatoes, however, a lot of my hatred also derives from his body of work which includes Soldier (bad), AVP: Alien [...]

So I assume that you’ve all seen Mesrine: Killer Instinct and are now anxious to see the conclusion to the series. Luckily, you are not to be disappointed as Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 delivers the same captivating storytelling, magnetic performances, and ace dialog that its predecessor sported. It does, however, lose a bit of focus [...]

Meet Jacques Mesrine: The most notorious French gangster/bank robber in history, who somehow seemed to escape the fame anywhere other than his native homeland. Being a charismatic bloke, he is best described as France’s own John Dillinger, yet, Mesrine, who practiced kidnapping on the side as well, was responsible for the deaths of approximately forty [...]

The character of Machete has been swirling around in the warped mind of Robert Rodriguez for at least nine years (he made his cinematic debut in Spy Kids, of all things!). Seemingly just an interesting bit character, things changed after monstrous buzz was received from the fake movie trailer that was patched into Grindhouse. People [...]

Spring break: Sun, water, ear-splitting hip hop music, booze-swilling horny guys, brazen bikini babes — and millions of razor-sharp teeth. Welcome to Lake Victoria, the fictional locale of Piranha 3D, the remake of Joe Dante’s 1978 movie of the same name. The film’s “coed rowdy-party” setting isn’t one you usually see in the work of [...]

I don’t consider myself the conventional nerd. I’m not interested in technology; in fact I have trouble finding out how to change the screen resolution on my computer monitor. I don’t read comic books — except for those couple of times where I sat adjacent to the graphic novel section in Borders. To top of [...]

As I watched Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, a few questions came to mind. Will the children who comprise the film’s target audience understand the allusions to James Bond, Austin Powers, The Terminator, and Silence of the Lambs? Will the unfortunate adults in the audience for whom these allusions are no doubt [...]

The incompatible buddy cop movie has been beaten to death. You can thank Beverly Hills Cop, Lethal Weapon, Rush Hour, their umpteenth sequels and every other knock based off of those movies you can think of for that. Adam McKay, the man behind such comedic wonders as Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy and Talladega [...]

What’s the first movie you think of when the Roman Empire comes to mind? Was it Gladiator? With its compelling storyline, brutal battles and scantily clad women, it’s hard for it not to be. Well, there is no resemblance to that in Neil Marshall’s foray into this subject and time period. Centurion is a basic [...]

Angelina this. Angelina that. I’m sick and tired of hearing about Brad and Angelina and their countless marital problems, but I guess I’m alone on this one because the mass media still manages to profit from the misery of these mediocre (at best) performers. I honestly don’t know whose still in Jolie’s fan base — [...]

When you heard that Mads Mikkelsen was starring in a film about a Norse crusader, you probably got pretty excited just as I did. However, the marketing, specifically the previews, set this movie up for a fall. It is presented as a hard-hitting, gritty period piece about the Christianization of Scandinavia. But that’s misleading. In [...]

“You are the One.” “No, I’m not.” “Yes, you are. You must believe in your powers.” Bad thing happens. “Oh, okay, I’m the One.” Yes, I’m paraphrasing and no, I’m not regurgitating the dialogue from The Matrix. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, the new Jerry Bruckheimer produced Disney film is. The guy trying to do the convincing [...]

Close your eyes. Transport yourself back to 1987. The high energy and surprisingly entertaining movie Predator has torn up the box office. A sequel has to follow. But in this alternate reality, Predator 2 never gets made. Neither do those abysmal Alien vs. Predator flicks. Now open your eyes. The sequel, as Robert Rodriguez envisioned [...]

There’s just something about Westerns that screams out, “Mesh me with other genres.” Perhaps it’s because most traditional westerns are one-note bores that fail to gain any recognition (don’t get your panties in a bunch — I said “most”) and the application of futuristic weaponry and demonic spirits seems like a surefire way to breathe [...]

M. Night Shymalagong came to mainstream recognition through his work on The Sixth Sense, which he both wrote and directed. It was nominated for several Academy Awards including: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay. Oops, excuse me, before I continue on with this review, I must correct myself — I’ve been informed that [...]

Tom Cruise used to be the personification of “badass.” He struggled to become the best pilot he could be in Top Gun, he overcame the impossible in Mission: Impossible and of course, he tackled a dystopian future in Minority Report. But it seems like the action-hero has aged quite poorly and these days he’s tackling [...]

At this point I’ll consider myself a masochist. With a bad taste in my mouth from my viewing of Stoic, I continued on my Uwe Boll obsession and decided to watch his latest film The Final Storm, an apocalyptic thriller which stars Lauren Holly and Steve Bacic as a suburban couple who invite Silas (Luke [...]

I’m one of the few people who consider Uwe Boll an important film-maker. It may be sad but it’s true. But let me explain my reasoning. Though Mr. Boll, who finances his own cinematic exploits, has not directed a single note-worthy film (except for being notoriously bad), he shows dedication and balls. It takes a [...]

Then: The A-Team, an 80s television show good for pathetically bad stories, overall bad acting, a shitload of random explosions, gun battles in which no one gets shot, and the rise of a mohawked bad-ass Mr. T (a man, by the way, that had no right to find himself in that situation). It did, however, [...]

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Robin Hood the latest telling of the fabled defender of the poor. On one hand, it is a nice change of pace to see the legendary archer bloodied and dirtied — no finely penciled mustaches or tailored suits (ala Errol Flynn). On the other hand, is a [...]

The Road centers on an unnamed father (Viggo Mortensen) and son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) struggling to survive in a hellish, post-apocalyptic world. Their intense journey will leave you feeling drained but ultimately satisfied. Okay, that last part made it sound like I was reviewing a porno. Emotionally drained is a better description for how the movie [...]

The road to box office success for movies based off of video games is potholed and strewn with broken down, bombed out carcasses (remember BloodRayne and In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale?).That doesn’t, however, stop the mostly concept-bankrupt power brokers of Hollywood from churning them, and films based off of comic [...]

There must have been a reason why I found the initially positive response to director Jorma Taccone’s MacGruber so ominous. Perhaps it was the fact that Taccone’s past cinematic exploits only include an actor credit for Land of the Lost and Hot Rod but it’s more likely that I found the eight positive reviews on [...]

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when I gave up any hope of enjoying this film. Possibly it was the moment I saw Liam Neeson dressed in tin-foil armor. Or maybe it was the image of Sam Worthington riding a giant CGI scorpion through the desert. Regardless, by the halfway mark I was already considering using [...]

I want one of those super computers that create 3D images in real space that you can interact with — expand/collapse models, move them here and there, zoom in for close look and then out again for a macroscopic vantage — not because I actually have anything important to do, but because Tony Stark spends [...]

Every time something tragic involving a youth occurs — whether it be unhandled rage or mental breakdowns — it seems that the “prestigious” physicians and psychiatrists employed for the good ‘ol government have an answer. They usually disregard the obvious answer — prior mental or emotional issues — and blame the aggressor’s hobbies for his [...]

If you could see me as I’m writing this review for Cop Out you’d see that I’m laughing my ass off. Not because the latest incompatible cop buddy movie which pairs Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan together is funny — oh no my friend — I’m laughing because this film is so far from funny [...]

The scene: Ogden Marsh, a peaceful Midwestern town of ~1,000 where everyone knows everyone and it is safe to keep the doors unlocked and windows open at night. Certainly not the place one would ever imagine a neighbor ruthlessly killing another. And that is what makes The Crazies all the more creepy. When a plane [...]

The 1970s were more than just about polyester bell bottom pants, experimentation with mind altering drugs or unprotected group sex (or was that the 60s?). Whatever the case, I’m quite sure it was the time of the blaxsploitation film. Stereotypical black characters (pimps, pushers, thugs, etc.) in stereotypical locations (ghetto and/or other urban environment) abound. [...]

Via my forced high school readings of a novel or two and landing on a movie during a bored late night channel surf, I’m not surprised I remember very little of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s creation Sherlock Holmes. Literally, the only things that come to mind are: He was a condescending bastard who smoked a [...]

Legion is the second movie in so many weeks with a theme riddled with supposed religious overtones (The Book of Eli being the other). Instead, however, of delving into the way spiritual power can lift the hopes of the downtrodden, first time director Scott Stewart’s vehicle delves into how the power of God can be [...]

It is not often that an action film almost passes me by, but Blood and Bone very nearly slipped through my net! This is a bad-ass action film with fight scenes so good I had to rewind and watch again! Although it does lack in certain areas, no martial arts fan should let this one [...]

Maybe you’re like me, wondering why 9 out of 10 post apocalyptic visions of the world are barren wastelands with bands of miscreants marauding little bands of honest folk with little to no hope. Then again, maybe you’re not. No matter, The Book of Eli, follows along a similar route to that of Mad Max [...]

Ethical vampires practicing abstinence from human blood isn’t a premise I easily buy into. My attitude may be an unfortunate side effect from the entertaining, if silly Twilight films. But I can put aside my skepticism for a story with intriguing ideas and parallels to our own real-world challenges. On first impression, Daybreakers appears to [...]

Credit, in some form, has to be given to Terry Gilliam for actually getting his much anticipated The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus completed. Anticipated, not necessarily because the world needed another Time Bandits or The Adventures of Baron Munchausen type movie but because Heath Ledger, the film’s lead died halfway through filming. I’m not sure [...]

With Star Trek, Gene Rodenberry sought to “seek out new worlds and to boldly go where no man has gone before.” With the $300,000,000 bombshell that is Avatar, James Cameron can proudly stand with Peter Jackson (remember his little Lord of the Rings trilogy?) and proclaim he too has gone where none have gone before. [...]

To be perfectly honest, I don’t think Armored ever had a chance of being a stellar action movie. Ah hell — I don’t think it had a chance of being much of anything. To come to that conclusion all I needed to see were these simple facts: It starred the likes of Laurence Fishburne and [...]

If you’re wondering (and you know you are) what a movie strictly built around the use of special effects looks like, look no further than 2012. It’s got a backstory that was clearly etched on a wet napkin during a drinking binge at the local Applebee’s after director Roland Emmerich discussed the idea of making [...]

For the most part, and don’t dare ask me why, American audiences have become mesmerized with the anime sensation that has swallowed up Saturday morning cartoons with lazy animation and piss poor stories. Why have I mentioned this morsel of worthlessness? So I can come to this conclusion of course: Kids love anime. Anime comes [...]

There are 32 rules, as of this writing, to ensure survival from a zombie infestation. That is of course if you want to believe what “Columbus” (Jesse Eisenberg), a young awkward kid who just so happens to find himself surviving a zombie plague in the latest undead flick Zombieland, has to say. Your best to [...]

Taking the projection of oneself one step further in the digital realm than the abysmal online world of Second Life does, Surrogates imagines a world where true 3D representations move about in the world in place of the living and breathing. Why risk actually interacting with others when one can sit comfortably at the house [...]

In the not so distant future, mankind is all but eliminated from the face of the Earth. In the similar fashion as the Terminator films, man built machines that ultimately led to his and all of life’s eradication. Man may be gone, however, but in his place are miniature ragdoll-like puppet creatures imbued with the [...]

Like many films before, I had seen the trailer to District 9. However, nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to witness when I stepped into Screen 5 to watch the entire film. Trust me, when I say that no amount of description can give justice to the story but I shall [...]

If you’re a fan of Quentin Tarantino’s hip and generally longwinded diatribes, strap your helmet on — Inglorious Basterds is your call to arms (you’ll just have to learn how to enjoy hearing it in French, German and other European flavors). If you’re not a fan of his character’s pontifications — so what — there [...]

Marcus Nispel’s 2007 action adventure, Pathfinder is the story of a tribe of Native American Indians who are under threat from Viking marauders hell-bent on ‘cleansing’ the land of Indians before they settle. The opening montage shows the brutal slaying of a tribe of Indians who literally throw themselves at the mercy of their annihilators, [...]

After 100 rewrites and multiple directors, it was impossible to not think the absolute worst of G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Not screening for critics didn’t help the cause either. The reason for our occlusion became abundantly clear after viewing — those rewrites and reshoots added up to nothing more than expensive mediocrity; high [...]

The already darkening skies encompassing the world of Harry Potter have darkened further in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the sixth installment of the wildly popular movie franchise. Long gone is the baby-faced innocence our would-be wizards once had when they first entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There is now deep-seeded resentment [...]

In contrast to Joseph Sargent’s 1974 original, Tony Scott’s The Taking of Pelham 123 is loud, fast, and action packed from start to finish. Right from the opening credits which roll to Jay-Z’s ’99 Problems’, we know we are in for a hell of a ride. From the outset Scott treats us to his usual [...]

Michael Mann’s recent box office success Public Enemies looked so full of promise. This true story of bank robberies and jail breaks, starring Johnny Depp as the notorious John Dillinger, and Christian Bale as his cocksure antagonist, FBI agent Melvin Purvis, should have it all. At two and a half hours, this should be an [...]

Kathryn Bigelow knows how to make an action movie. She knows how to get the blood pumping, and how to generate nail-biting suspense. Her latest effort is laced with more testosterone than any recent action film. You may recall, she was responsible for the gloriously over-the-top cops and surfers thriller Point Break. Whatever anyone says, [...]

It didn’t take long for me to realize that after a cute intro involving Scrat the sabertoothed squirrel, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs was the worst of the Fox animated trilogy. While it still has its cutesy characters — wooly mammoths Ellie (voiced by Queen Latifah) and Manny (voiced by Ray Romano), sloth Sid [...]

After months of hype, Transfomers: Revenge of the Fallen, the mother of all summer blockbusters is finally here and my does it arrive with a bang. Bigger, louder and more in your face than its predecessor Transformers, Michael Bay is true to his word, as he serves up some ass kicking robots. As the title [...]

Admit it, you’re just like me — you really had no idea what Disney Pixar’s latest animated adventure, Up was about. For me, all I knew was it had a grumpy old man, a fat kid, a talking dog and a colorful bird in it. Oh yeah, how could I forget, there was also a [...]

Even though I couldn’t stand it, the original Night At the Museum was at least original and had a “cuteness” factor to it. Oh, and how could I forget — it made a shitload of money worldwide too. But was it really so great that it needed a sequel? Of course not, but when has [...]

Just because Arnold Schwarzenegger isn’t the focal point in Terminator: Salvation is no reason to fret and sign the death certificate on an impressive movie franchise. The final product, while very different from the three previous installments, still packs plenty of punch in both the alternate reality and ass-kicking action fronts. The main differentiator here [...]

I didn’t think I would ever say it this is my lifetime, but it looks like the science fiction obsessed, dressing up and convention going social outcasts known as Trekkies are now getting their due. J.J. Abrams has finally dropped Star Trek into the theaters, a movie which may be the most highly anticipated reboot [...]

Finally. The only interesting character in the X-Men universe has his own movie. No, I’m not referring to Cyclops (although I wouldn’t mind seeing some footage with him and Jean Grey getting down to business). I’m talking about X-Men Origins: Wolverine, the long awaited Wolverine flick that, whether good or bad, will undoubtedly breathe a [...]

With a name like Fighting, a movie had better come fully equipped with the goods. That means more bare-handed, mixed martial arts than should be allowed by law. That means more broken bones, cuts, abrasions and black eyes than I care to see. Instead, Dito Montiel directed an implausible, predictable movie that comes up short [...]

Who knew mall security personnel were so much of an in thing in 2009? First Kevin James brought us Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Now Seth Rogen dons the blue uniform and tin badge for Observe and Report. Whereas James’ portrayal of a wannabe cop was very innocent and PG in nature, Rogen’s characterization is perverse [...]

Wonders never cease. I didn’t think it was possible to create a more adrenaline fueled, mind twistingly deranged action film than Crank. Oh, how wrong I was. Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor have upped the levels of their previous creation fifty-fold with Crank: High Voltage and, in doing so, created a movie that is sure [...]

After watching Dragonball Z on Cartoon Network years ago, I became hooked and ended up buying the entire series on DVD. As for the original Dragonball series, I wasn’t such a fan (even though I bought much of it, too). As a consequence, I wasn’t exactly overwhelmed with anticipation to see Dragonball Evolution since it [...]

The pickings must be slim for Vin Diesel and Paul Walker these days. How else can you explain why they would come back to star in Fast and Furious when they left the series on high notes after The Fast and the Furious eight years ago? You can’t, and this half-hearted attempt to recapture what [...]

In Zack Snyder’s brilliant film version of Watchmen, it isn’t business as usual for a group of rag-tag costumed do-gooders living, working, and laying low in the alternate world of a Nixon-era 1985, a time when masked crime fighters have been outlawed. In much the same way as Chris Nolan did for Batman in the [...]

I can’t claim to have seen any of the movies in the “Air Bud” series (Air Bud: World Pup, Air Bud: Spikes Back, Snow Buddies and 50 others) but if they’re anywhere near as bad as this latest installment, I’m glad I can’t make that claim. Here is a rundown of my viewing experience of [...]

There are several kisses of death a movie franchise may experience, including, but not limited to: The original writing/directing team deciding to move on to other projects The main actor or actress in the franchise deciding to not be involved in the latest project The decision to make a prequel Casting Paris Hilton to star [...]

With a name like Tokyo Gore Police, it was simply impossible for me to not want to see this movie. And in some perverse way (locked away deep in the recesses of my mind), I’m glad that I did. The Japanese have singlehandedly fine tuned the art of making freakishly bizarre cult movies that defy [...]

Is Kevin James the heir apparent to Chris Farley? He’s funny and fat — the two major necessities needed to make that claim are in place. However, I’m not ready to hand the torch to him just yet, especially since I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of his last big screen outing (I Now Pronounce [...]

The new year is newly upon us and we already have a comic book adaptation thrust upon us in the form of The Spirit. Yes I know what you’re thinking, I have never heard of this “Spirit” character. Don’t worry I hadn’t either. However, after some painstaking research (thanks Wikipedia), I found out that the [...]

Having mildly enjoyed The Punisher restart four years ago (try and forget the original Dolph Lundgren debacle), I was interested to see how Hollywood was going to grow the character of Frank Castle further in Punisher: War Zone. Inexplicably, the franchise has regressed into a form that defies conventional words. Okay, maybe there is a [...]

If you were to do a Google search right now for the movie posters of The Transporter and Transporter 2 and then compared them to the poster to the right of this review (in that little box thingy), what similarities do you see? That’s right; they’re nearly exact carbon copies of one another. And guess [...]

Writing a book or screenplay with vampires in it has got to be one of the easiest gigs around. These mysterious and charming undead basically lend themselves to just about any scenario possible — generally making said scenario that much more intriguing (its got a vampire in it, duh!). Proof in point: Twilight. Catherine Hardwicke’s [...]

You just knew the sequel Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa was in the coming. Not only because New Yorker animals Alex the lion (voiced by Ben Stiller), Melman the giraffe (voiced by David Schwimmer), Marty the zebra (voiced by Chris Rock) and Gloria the hippo (voiced by Jada Pinkett Smith) were stranded on an island and [...]

A rejuvenated James Bond is back for his 22nd feature film: Quantum of Solace. Building upon the blocks laid down in 2006′s Casino Royale, this movie further “evolves” the Bond experience — presenting itself strictly as a kick-ass, take no prisoners action movie, leaving in the dust the nuances that set 007 apart from being [...]

To say I was stunned, shocked and dumbfounded after my viewing of Max Payne would be a bit harsh. I was, however, certainly disappointed in what I saw. No, not because another popular video game had become a casualty of a poor Hollywood interpretation, but because, for all intents and purposes, it didn’t remotely look [...]

“Welcome to Guantanamo”, Al-Saleem says to Roger Ferris before he crushes his fingers with a hammer. It is an excruciatingly tense scene that would have gone a lot farther without the obvious shot at the current political landscape. But aside from that, I’ll give Ridley Scott credit; he deftly avoided making the same agenda driven [...]

There are few writers and/or directors who can successfully intertwine remarkable, seemingly unrelated characters and side stories in a coherent fashion. In the states, Quentin Tarantino, of Pulp Fiction fame, takes the honors. Across the pond, the award goes to Guy Richie, whose body of work contains such memorable films like Snatch. and Lock, Stock [...]

War. There are countless reasons for them to be waged and I don’t pretend to know a damn thing about any of them. What I do I understand, however, is along with war comes great sacrifice and loss. Fifty Dead Men Walking is a film set in Belfast during the late 80′s that works to [...]

Miniature dogs may be the most annoying creatures on earth. At first I felt that way because they all tend to have that “yip-yip” bark that can drive any sane person crazy within seconds. Recently a new, more pronounced and powerful reason to hate them has emerged — the super rich dress them in horrendous [...]

Yes, we know Big Brother is watching us. He’s been watching us for a very long, long time — the digital age and relentless media exposure just makes it that much more in your face. And just like when the internet was the new great unknown, Hollywood tried to capitalize on the horrors of it [...]

There are few guarantees in life — you’re going to die someday, you’ve got to pay your taxes, no good can come from smoking methamphetamine, and Spike Lee will make a movie that, at its core, has deep, driving racial overtones. Yep, that’s right boys and girls, it is a sure-fire guarantee that Spike Lee [...]

To this day I am still baffled by the concept that Nicolas Cage crossed over to become an action movie star. More often than not, he’s starred in some real clunkers and based off of the fact Bangkok Dangerous is a remake of a Thai film of the same name and not screened for critics [...]

Some say there is biker blood coarsing through my veins. I can’t imagine why — I’ve only got a Harley, tats running up and down my arms and I run several meth labs in the suburbs. I also dig biker flicks. Even more, I like films in which Quentin Tarantino has had a hand in [...]

Hollywood hasn’t been kind to Vin Diesel. His last movies haven’t done too well at the box-office, so it wasn’t much of a surprise for him to want to return to the science fiction genre that spawned his career a decade or so ago (remember Pitch Black?). Good for him, as I’m sure on paper [...]

Hollywood has stooped to a new low. Sure we’re used to the studios producing some lousy movies. And lately we’ve gotten our fair share of remakes. With Death Race, Universal Pictures has combined the two! That’s right, the “classic” Roger Corman flick Death Race 2000 needed a semi-serious updating. Okay, Death Race really isn’t a [...]

I can’t think of any board-type games that have had rousing success when crossed over into film. From my limited scope, only a few attempts like Clue and Dungeons and Dragons even come to mind. And seeing that at least two higher priced productions didn’t fare particularly well, there wasn’t much hope going for the [...]

I don’t know what else to say other than I was dumbfounded when I first caught sight of the trailers for George Lucas’ latest tale in his storied Star Wars franchise – Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The blocky, animated characters looked God awful. The minimal amount of dialogue I heard sounded corny. In most [...]

Tropic Thunder is a movie about making a movie by not making a movie (or something like that). Director Damien Cockburn (Steve Coogan) assembles himself a “star studded” cast of actors to grace his latest war movie. Tugg Speedman (Ben Stiller) is the group’s has-been action hero in search of a hit, Kirk Lazarus (Robert [...]

It is official. At the age of five, my children hate me. How did I come to this conclusion? Simple, they dragged me to see Space Chimps, that’s how. I tried repeatedly to convince them they’d rather see Pineapple Express to no avail. In the end though, I think they learned a powerful lesson – [...]

Pineapple Express is a comedy that could best be defined as having the combined styles of stoners Cheech and Chong and badass action guys Jackie Chan and Steven Seagal. This action filled buddy flick is hampered by a slow start and cheap jokes but is graced with a brilliant luster that can sometimes sparkle very [...]

Not sure about you, but I can barely recollect anything of note from the The Mummy Returns or the original The Mummy that would necessitate a third installment. But I guess that is why I am not a producer of big budget films, because apparently there was something there that absolutely needed to be seen [...]

There’s a new action star in town and it isn’t anyone you would immediately suspect. Does the name Liam Neeson ring a bell? Yes, the same guys who has primarily played the nondescript role for the majority of his career has found his John McClane as Bryan in the French action, quasi-thriller Taken. Surprisingly, it [...]

Most movies surrounded by as much hype as The Dark Knight usually don’t live up to it. This is one rare and shining example of something that I would call close to cinematic perfection. This summer’s blockbuster is a direct sequel to 2005′s Batman Begins, picking up right where it left off, with a new [...]

Considering the terrible tax situation Wesley Snipes got himself in, it really shouldn’t be a surprise that he’s resorted to doing movies, that for the most part, would have been considered unworthy of his “action-star prowess” during his heyday (which I say was around the time of Blade). But a man’s got to his pay [...]

A demon, code named Hellboy (Ron Perlman), but called Red by his friends, is saved by paranormal investigators when he is very small and raised to be a defender against the forces of darkness. However, as he has grown into a large, bright red mammoth with an attitude, he wants nothing more than to be [...]

General note to all before reading this movie review: if you can’t leave your reasoning and common sense behind, stop reading – Wanted is not for you. For everyone else, continue reading – an entertainment guarantee awaits. Wanted is the story of a young account manager named Wesley Gibson (James McAvoy) who is suffering from [...]

WALL-E is the latest in the line of stellar features from the powerhouse Pixar. It is a romantic story of a small, lonely garbage cleaning robot that finds his purpose is greater than simply gathering trash into piles. Beautiful, charming and with an important message interwoven, WALL-E is flawless. When the people of earth cover [...]

Hancock is Los Angeles’ resident alcohol-fueled, low-flying sometimes hero. With all the exciting aspects of an action movie, sparkling comedy and a heartfelt plot, this is the most honest super hero movie I’ve ever seen. When not drunk, John Hancock (Will Smith) flies around Los Angeles, protecting innocent people from criminals and disaster. The rest [...]

Get Smart is a simplistic spy guy tale of good vs. evil and smart vs. dumb that tries to capture the allure of the 60′s television show Get Smart. Sadly, this cinematic upgrade should have followed its titular advice when it came to the writing, the acting and the action. After overcoming personal obstacles, Maxwell [...]

The Hulk has arrived and with him comes the first real action blockbuster of the summer. Yeah sure Iron Man made some big waves, but it was short on bone aching action and heavy on sleep inducing backstory. Director Louis Leterrier and screenwriter Zak Penn make the assumption you know who the Hulk is, how [...]

If you have ever wondered what it feels like to be punched in the face repeatedly by Mike Tyson in his prime, wonder no more. Adam Sandler, with the help of Robert Smigel and, gulp, Judd Apatow, have in all of their infinite wit and wisdom provided to you, for the measly cost of $14.75 [...]

Po (voiced by Jack Black), a clumsy panda and the son of a noodle vendor, dreams of becoming a great kung fu fighter and meeting “The Ferocious Furious Five”. This team of kung fu masters is comprised of Tigress (voiced by Angelina Jolie), Monkey (voiced by Jackie Chan), Mantis (voiced by Seth Rogen), Viper (voiced [...]

Can you believe its been 19 years since Indiana Jones graced (used loosely) the silver screen? In this latest installment of the storied franchise, which in my point of view is 18 year overdue, archeology professor and all around bad ass, Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is accused of treason when his friend Mac (Ray Winstone) [...]

Has 1300 years passed already? In the fictional land of Narnia it has and things haven’t been so good for the Narnians since Edmund (Skandar Keynes), Lucy (Georgie Henley), Susan (Anna Popplewell) and Peter (William Moseley) left to return to the real world. Actually, saying things haven’t been so good is a bit of an [...]

Ingenuity is the mother of invention (or something like that). Since movies being harsh on the war in Iraq and on the current administration of the United States have been bombing (no pun intended) stupendously at the box office, writers Mark Leyner, Jeremy Pikser and John Cusack came up with a nifty idea – satirize [...]

My husband and I have been playing a free race car game called TrackMania and we’ve become addicted. You fly off ramps, go upside down and avoid obstacles. It is fun because it is just realistic enough to be believable but novel enough to be fun. Movies have to find that same mix of novelty [...]

There is but one reason as to why this movie review is so late – I purposely looked to avoid watching Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay. Even though I consider myself an incestuous lover of sophomoric movies, I just couldn’t consummate the affair with the original Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle [...]

Like the wise one says, “Necessity is the mother of invention” and Tony Stark’s mother birthed the crude chrysalis of Iron Man in a cave in Afghanistan. While demonstrating the Jericho Missile, spoiled, womanizing, arrogant weapons manufacturer and brilliant engineer Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is kidnapped by the Ten Rings terrorist group led by [...]

Set in ancient China, The Forbidden Kingdom is a mix of cinematic influences. It stops short of tiresome and of brilliance. It is quality cheese. Nerdy Kung-Fu enthusiast Jason Tripitikas (Michael Angarano) spends enough time at the local video store to get chummy with the owner Old Hop (Jackie Chan). When Old Hop is attacked, [...]

Nim’s Island is the latest addition to the ever growing list of children books that have been adapted to the big screen. This time however, instead of taking place in part or in whole in some fantastical fantasy realm (Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe), this movie [...]

Horton Hears a Who! is number three of Dr. Seuss books brought to the big screen by Hollywood looking for a new avenue to draw cash from. This movie is slightly different from The Cat in the Hat and How the Grinch Stole Christmas though. Whereas those two films were really just vehicles for their [...]

Let me preface this by saying that Doomsday is, by no stretch of the imagination a good movie, but it is a shit load of fun and a hell of a ride. It’s messy, its inconsistent, and full of major plot holes but it does one thing many movies fail to do, and that is [...]

No doubt writers Harald Kloser and Roland Emmerich (who also directed) had grand plans for 10,000 B.C.. Spectacular visuals supporting a tall tale set in the ancient world point to a movie with epic aspirations along the lines of Apocalypto and Gladiator. Unfortunately, they didn’t do their “homework”, as the movie is littered with inconsistencies [...]

On the surface Jumper looks like a movie I’ve been longing for – an action movie that has a character that actually embraces his or her extraordinary talent and uses it in a realistic manner (i.e., not like a superhero). Of course after seeing the movie, it doesn’t quite live up to my expectations. The [...]

I get the distinct feeling I’ve seen Fool’s Gold before. Tell me if this premise seems even remotely familiar to you: A reckless loser with a hot girlfriend, convinces her to join him on a perilous adventure searching for buried treasure on the ocean floor. Need some help jogging your memory banks? Try the 2005 [...]

Holy viral marketing campaign, Batman. Cloverfield, the latest production from J.J. Abrams (best known for Lost and Alias), may be the most hyped movie of the decade. It was pure genius – the whole country had vivid images of the Statue of Liberty’s head rolling down the Avenue of the Americas for weeks prior to [...]

Hey all, my name is Mike but my handle around these parts will be Phntmbanana. I got a chance to take a look at Rambo the new Stallone flick, and it was certainly a view to behold. It pushed the boundaries of violence in movies to a point I have never seen before, and I [...]

With very little on the cinematic horizon for the young ones, I decided to take the boys to see the only game in town that met their demographic: The Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything: A VeggieTales Movie. I really had zero interest in this but that didn’t stop the kids from wanting to see it. [...]

Rob Reiner has surfaced again, directing arguably two of the most accomplished actors of our time: Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman. The vehicle: The Bucket List, a comedy drama that tries to add a new twist to the Odd Couple scenario. Instead of just throwing together two incompatible people, as so many movies have already [...]

I firmly believe there is a treasure hunter in all of us. The possibility of having your name attached to discovering a lost civilization or an artifact worth a fortune are all things we’ve dreamed about at one time or another. It’s the underlying reason that Indiana Jones was so popular (and still is considering [...]

The Hollywood remake. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, they’re a steady part of our cinema diet. I Am Legend proves once again that Hollywood believes the easiest path to success is to either: make a sequel or take a movie from years past and dress it up with an updated storyline and fresh graphics. Sometimes [...]

I’m not sure what all the hoopla was surrounding The Golden Compass. I believe it has something to do with the atheistic stance the author of the book from which the movie was adapted from had. Sure there are a few themes that indicate religion is a bad institution, but I don’t recall seeing anything [...]

Here we go again. Even though the old video game to movie adaption has played itself out some time ago, it has reared it’s ugly head above the surface once more to take a stab at our wallets and pocketbooks. No I’m not talking about a fourth Resident Evil (although I’m certain one is in [...]

Let me start this particular movie review off by saying I’m a big fan of animated movies. I’m an even bigger fan of films starring real, flesh and blood actors and actresses. I am not however, a proponent of the stop-action animation that mixes these two forms of movies together. Apparently, Robert Zemeckis is. One [...]

I tend to get my guard up whenever I go into the theater to see a movie like The Kingdom. I always expect an overdose of political activism or some other jaded point of view that the writer and/or director wants to stuff down my throat. This, I believe, is the second such movie that [...]

I have to confess that until now, I’ve had the pleasure of avoiding this whole Resident Evil business; I haven’t seen either of the previous two films (Resident Evil and Resident Evil: Apocalypse) or played much of the Capcom games which, I gather, are only tangentially related to the premise at this point. So, my [...]

When it comes to Jodie Foster, I’m not one to run to catch the opening show, and Terrence Howard isn’t exactly a Will Smith, but The Brave One turned out just fine. This is an interesting spin on the old street vigilante concept. By the very nature of the material, this qualifies as pulp-fiction melodrama, [...]

Sometimes movies look so much better on paper and storyboards rather than on an actual reel of film. Such is the case with Shoot ‘Em Up. It is every writer’s wet dream, a movie light on plot, dialogue and substance; heavy on nonstop action, including incredible gun and knife fights, car chases, aerial battles and [...]

Didn’t Jet Li retire last year? I guess the allure of making mostly grand action movies is just too strong — just like the smell of chocolate is irresistible to a fat person — because he is back and kicking ass in War. This time, instead of being involved in some obscure Chinese tale (i.e., [...]

A few weeks ago on another movie review blog (DC Girl @ The Movies to be exact), I guessed Stardust would be lucky to break into the top ten for weekend gross on it’s opening weekend. I came to that conclusion based on the fact the trailer seemed cheesy and childish — even if it [...]

This is definitely the year of trilogies. Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End started the summer season off. Now Rush Hour 3 hits the silver screen and I must say, I’m a bit surprised by this release — after all it’s been six years since Rush Hour 2 [...]

The Bourne Ultimatum is the third installment of the Bourne saga. This movie picks up right after Jason Bourne apologizes to the Neski daughter, without pause after the events of the second film, which may leave newcomers to the series a little perplexed. If you have seen the first two films, which I recommend before [...]

Can you spell low budget? I can. It’s spelled D-I-A-M-O-N-D D-O-G-S. For those that are having a problem with that, I spelled: Diamond Dogs. As everyone knows between screening the monstrous blockbusters all the time, I’ve got to give back to the community now and again. I do that by watching movies no one will [...]

Here comes Harry Potter for round number five. Will he come out of the corner with the heart of a champion or limp like a homo coming out of a bathhouse? That’s the question I asked as I finally found myself fighting the crowds and going to the cinema last night. It’s a legitimate question, [...]

Transformers the new movie by Michael Bay, is based not on a novel, play or screenwriter’s inspiration but on a line of Hasbro toys that have been hot tickets for young boys such as myself for more than 20 years. I could not think of a greater example of a text book summer blockbuster than [...]

Thank God for John McClane. That’s right I said it. Where would our great country be, if John McClane was not there to save it time and again? I’ll tell you where — right in the shitter. In Die Hard, he outwitted an international thief holding people in the Nakatomi Plaza hostage. In Die Hard [...]

I have to start off by saying that I’m not a huge Fantastic Four fan and hence my review could be partially biased. Having said that, let’s get into the gory details of this movie . . . Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer starts off with our heroes finally settled in with their [...]

Chalk up number three of the summer. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End has arrived in theaters and knocked out the oh-so endearing Shrek the Third from it’s elevated position as the weekend top grosser. But isn’t that what we expected to happen? After all, our lovable ogre lost a great deal of his [...]

I hadn’t heard much about The Last Legion. But what I had heard was that it wasn’t particularly good — it doesn’t follow any true historical events and the action was rather inactive. Now, I certainly wouldn’t call myself a history major (I’ll leave that to my brother), so the possibility of that ruining my [...]

Let me start of by saying that the most memorable part of Next is Nicholas Cage’s hair. I kept thinking of the Nick Nolte mug shot when he got caught for DUI. My main reason to go watch this movie was for Jessica Biel but I just ended up wasting some $10 on a ticket and [...]

Here it is, Spider-Man 3, the most anticipated movie of the year. As a Spider-Man fan for most of my life, I can safely say I was counting down the days for this release. After Spider-Man 2, I found myself yearning for more. Could the third installment best the sequel which actually bested the original [...]

Hot Fuzz is the highly anticipated movie from the team of Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg that created Shaun of the Dead. Whereas Shaun twisted and made light of the zombie genre, Hot Fuzz pokes fun at the cop buddy movie made so famous by movies like Lethal Weapon and Rush Hour. All I can [...]

Where do I begin? I never quite know how I’m supposed to start a movie review, when I have already formed my opinion before seeing the film. Maybe I should begin by saying I’m an asshole for going to see a movie I know is going to suck terribly. Or perhaps I should start by [...]

After all the critical acclaim heaved upon Danny Boyle and Alex Garland for helping to redefine the zombie flick with 28 Days Later…, I was definitely excited to see if something similar could be done with science fiction genre. Granted, there are plenty of recent space movies but they’ve all focused on action and big [...]

Approximately ten times a year, to the theaters come those animated children movies we, as parents, cringe at. Our children want to go, no matter how bad the movie appears — so long as it has animated animals or dinosaurs or vehicles or rugs. Of those times only one or two of them are worth [...]

Time for a kick-ass action movie — the first of 2007. This time around we’ve got Jason Bourne, going after some bad-ass government officials who have wronged him . . . oops, I’m sorry I’ve got the movie confused. I’m supposed to be reviewing Shooter and I’ve started to review The Bourne Identity! I’ve got [...]

Has it really been 14 years since the freaky, full-sized, mutant turtles graced us with the presence on the silver screen? Yeppers, the last time I saw them it was in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III (I’m not counting television cartoons or straight-to-DVD titles). I’m obviously out of the loop since a great deal of [...]

To be perfectly honest, there was no rhyme or reason as to why I decided to watch this movie. It has little to no fanfare, no actors I particularly like and it’s British. The last British movie I enjoyed was the classic from 2004, Shaun of the Dead. Before that, I can’t recall. I do [...]

Where do I begin? After all the initial movie reviews and hype surrounding the opening of 300 what else is there to say? Let me begin, by saying the movie definitely lives up to the fervor surrounding it. You want action? You got it. You want crazy, vivid battle scenes? You got it. You want [...]

Flame On! Nicholas Cage character Johnny, blazes the big sceen as the Ghost Rider with some intense visual effects and the fight for the balance of good and evil. Wife and I decided to spend the saturday evening at the movies and of all the choices we had, we decided to go for Ghost Rider [...]

We’ve all seen the trailers for Smokin’ Aces for the past week or so, depicted a wild movie in which the world’s best contract killers are all gunning for $1,000,000 for killing a mob informant Buddy ‘Aces’ Israel (Jeremy Piven). Who wouldn’t we intrigued by a movie that seems to promise a mile-a-minute rollercoaster ride [...]

One of my favorite movie franchises has got to be James Bond. The man has it all — fine clothes, awesome gadgets, skills in every study known to man, kick-ass cars and of course, smoking hot chicks who line up to screw him. Who wouldn’t want to emulate that? However, it is with some skepticism, [...]

Here we go again. Hollywood has once again decided to take a cheesy, campy 80′s TV show and upgrade it to the big screen. This time it isn’t The Dukes of Hazzard, The Beverly Hillbillies or Bewitched; it’s Miami Vice. And instead of Don Johnson and Philip Michael Thomas as Crockett and Tubbs, the detectives [...]

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Johnny Depp is one of the best actors of this generation – even if I have to look past the fact he resides in that shit infested country France. I don’t think there has been a movie starring Mr. Depp that I haven’t found entertaining on [...]

I want to know what these guys were smoking when they were writing the script for Superman Returns. So what was great about Superman Returns was the possibilities it could have taken with the script. After the beginning credits (which  were a great homage to the 70s/80s version of Superman), the whole film went downhill [...]

Another day goes by and I find I need to put some filler into it, as it isn’t filled with nearly enough activity. So as usual I fire up some popcorn get a cold beverage and watch a movie. This time The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is the starring title. By the way, [...]

After watching the first two X-Men films, I was positive this would be amazing, mind blowing visuals, and above and beyond any fan’s expectations. Instead you are left with an overopulated mutant community. The end result, much the same as elsewhere – resources stretched to the breaking point forcing everyone to settle for less. The [...]

Ah, summer blockbuster time. Sun is shing brightly, birds are chirping and Hollywood throws our way the movies that will make or break their year. The first movie of the season is Mission: Impossible III starring our favorite actor Tom Cruise as spy Ethan Hunt. Now I’m the first guy to get in line for [...]

After a good long night of drinking, I finally sat down to watch what some are calling one of the best movies this year to come out of Hollywood. I’m obviously talking about the latest offering by the Wachowski brothers — V for Vendetta.  The movie based off of a UK comic book of the [...]

Not sure about you, but I’ve always been a buff on the unknown, supernatural stuff. I’ve always been intrigued by vampire tales or ghost stories. The stranger and scarier the better. So without a doubt, I wanted to see the second installment of the Underworld series, Underworld: Evolution. Underworld: Evolution has a simple premise: vampires [...]

Although, I had never actually read the book – “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” (review title shortened, obvioulsy), I had heard a great many good things about it. So, I had high expectations going in to see this movie. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the [...]

Some of you may or no may not remember, many moons ago MTV had a show called Liquid Television which was a show that gave air-time to independant animators. Aeon Flux was one of the more notable entries (as was Beavis and Butthead). So I decided to give the big screen adaption a shot, as [...]

I won’t call myself a devoted follower of the Harry Potter phenomenon dreamed up by J.K. Rowling, while she slept on the streets of Edinburgh. I would say, however, that I am a man who enjoyed the first three movies enough to look foward to seeing the latest incarnation: Harry Potter and the Goblet of [...]

There is a point where both video game fanatics and film buffs will want to see that neither the movie will try to be too much like the game nor the game too much like the movie… Or that the movie be too much like the others before it. But sadly, I walked away from [...]

Let me start this review by saying that if my wife, whom I love dearly, didn’t want to watch this move, I wouldn’t have gone near it. I’ll be the first to admit Jodie Foster is a top-tier actress, but that fact didn’t outwiegh the notion that Flightplan is a hokey piece of shit. First, [...]

Quite honestly I can say, I had absolutely no interest in watching this movie. However, after hearing people fawn over Jessica Alba, I figured I’d give it a go. Luckily, I wasn’t dissapointed. . . Yeah, I know suddenly you’re thinking ‘Mr. Peach must have enjoyed the movie’. Wrong. I expected Into The Blue to [...]

Just what the doctor ordered. A good ‘ole street-banging action flick by none other than John Singleton(whatever happened to him after Boyz n the Hood?). Four Brothers chronicles the actions of 4 adopted boys who seek to exact revenge on the people who killed their adoptive mother. . .a slight twist to the urban action-drama [...]

With my folks in town and some time to kill, we decided to sit back and watch the latest Wes Craven psychological thriller Red Eye. Personally, I had absolutely no idea what this movie was about except for the fact it had some shit to do with a plane and crazy guy. So, going into [...]

Well, it was bound to happen again. No, I don’t mean that the sun will surely rise in the east, as it always does. I mean, another attempt has been made to bring a comic book to the silver screen.Fantastic Four is another attempt by the movie studios to cash in on the comic book [...]

Finally, a rendition of Batman that most fans of the comic book would be proud of. At least that was the hope I had when I finally sat down to watch Batman Begins. Let’s start where the producer’s of Batman Begins got it right. Without a doubt, they nailed the persona of Batman. From the [...]

Hmmm. . .Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in the same movie. Arguably, the two best looking actors in the world. Initial thoughts? Mr. & Mrs. Smith has to suck. When the media focuses on the couple after filming the movie goes downhill. . .remember that shitfest Gigli? So needless to say, I didn’t go into [...]

I’ve finally given in. No, not to the dark side(unless of course you speak to my wife), rather I’ve finally given in and decided to watch Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. After the first two debacles (episodes I and II), I was weary to say the least. Let’s start by saying [...]

DON’T PANIC. Every fan of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy trilogy (actually 5 books) were overheard repeating DON’T PANIC. Even I wondered aloud if the the big screen could even remotely capture the essence of the written material. Let’s just say I was pleasantly surprised. This could have easily been a train wreck…luckily Douglas [...]

I went into this movie knowing full well D.E.B.S. was going to be a close second to that shitfest Elektra. But, I had to take a chance on chicks with short skirts, thigh highs, and the chance of lesbian make-out scenes. I’m a man, damnit! However low my expectations were, I was still disappointed! D.E.B.S., [...]

Wow. Another comic book…err, I mean graphic novel to movie adaptation. Which one am I talking about now? Sin City of course. An obscure graphic novel by the man who single-handedly made Batman cool again – Frank Miller. Although, most of the latest comics to movies have sucked ass (see Electra, Daredevil, etal), I was [...]

Let’s begin by saying I like Bruce Willis. Always have. Any man that bagged Demi Moore, is alright in my book. So I looked forward to checking out his latest movie Hostage. How can Hollywood screw up a movie that seems so similar to one of the greats: Die Hard? Movie starts off great. Motherfucker [...]

Maybe you were like me and saw the hundreds of trailers on the television outlining a funny, good-hearted family film. Maybe you thought that movie had the possibility of being quite funny. What movie am I talking about? The Pacifier of course. I’ll admit it, in some confusing way, I was looking forward to seeing [...]

How is it possible to create a worse movie than Alone in the Dark? Easy, dump out a piling heap of shit and title it Elektra. Now let’s be realistic. I knew the movie was going to be a waste of time and money. I watched this movie for two reasons. One, it was free. [...]

Ok, I’ll admit it, I went into Constantine thinking it was a pile of horseshit. Everyone I knew (and their mothers) claimed this movie sucked ass. “Shit movie,” and “Keanu Reaves can’t act,” are a few of the remarks I’ve heard. Although I can’t argue the latter opinion, I make a case on the first. [...]