Saw this one yesterday in 3d. From what I have been hearing not too many people have been enjoying this flick for this that or the other reason. But I will honestly say that I really enjoyed this. I wouldn't say that it was one of my favorite films, hell I wouldn't even say that it was one of my favorite Tim Burton flicks but it was damn enjoyable. The story was different but interesting from start to finish. The acting as usually was pretty damn cool. The visuals were fun as hell. And as always it had that nice little dark side that Tim Burton is known for. I thoroughly enjoyed the retailing of this classic story, the best thing is that it was not the same as any of the other stories before so it gave it gave them a bit of freedom with the story.


The Good:
- Graphics were amazing
- The cheshire cat
- Johnny Depp: Mr. Depp played an awesome Madd Hatter
- All the other actors all played their parts very well and made for an enjoyable movie
- Classic Tim Burton
The Bad:
- The 3d was very unnecessary and I can only imagine would have been just as good in 2d. I would have loved to see this movie actually made in 3d vs. being rendered in 3d afterwords.
- Because it was made by Disney it showed some similarities to Narnia
- The white queen was a bit corny but I feel this was done on purpose and she was still very good.

Overall I would suggest this for anyone who enjoys Tim Burton's movies and anyone who enjoys Alice in Wonderland. The movie was just good. I will say that I would like to see Tim Burton stretch his wings a bit. This is kind of a side track but the man has a great talent and has many great skill but has allowed himself to become a one trick pony. All of his movies are dark, most of his movies have Johnny Depp and Whats her name in it... But damnit I still enjoy his stuff.

Damn this was a busy week and I have actually watched a couple flicks for the first time in a while... I have been listening to the smodcast for a bit recently and started to get a little excited for this movie and hell look at the cast and the director... I had heard it was a buddy cop comedy but the reviews I read were pretty lousy so I didnt know what to think when going into it... But I have to say I was pleasantly surprised the movie was not only hilarious but was actually pretty cool... From the moment it started to the final seconds of the film I was laughing the whole time and enjoying myself... there were some corny parts and some jokes that were a little forced but the movie was hilarious the best part about the movie is that it reminded me of the classic buddy cop style movies i.e. lethal weapon, die hard, Beverly Hills cop, etc. So much so I am currently watching Lethal weapon 1 to get more of that. I would suggest this movie for anyone who enjoyed cop movies from the past and anyone who enjoys funny action flicks. The jokes were good the combo of Bruce and Tracy was hilarious and even all the side characters were great. If I was going to rate this I would give it a 8/10 for fun alone...

Wolfman

I remember the first preview I saw of this film and I was damn excited to watch it. Then came the push back on the release... fear quickly overcame me and i was worried that the studio may have seen something in the movie that was not worth watching or that scared them. Because in the movie theater business everyone knows that February-April is the crap releases of film. Every once in a while you get a gem but as a whole you see movies that dont fit into the summer or Christmas releases. For example check out the movies that have come out since January... Day Breakers, Leap Year, Youth in Revolt, The Book of Eli, Legion, Tooth Fairy, Edge of Darkness, Percy Jackson, Cop Out, The Crazies, etc. These movies are not necessarily bad but are not all star movies. So the movie came out and i hesitated to watch it, my worst fears were already being confirmed though. As employees came and went to the movie and I did not hear one good thing come from it I was desperately worried.

So Saturday rolls around and i happen to have the day off so we decide to watch this movie. The film started out pretty slow and the distractions of people talking behind me was not the most frustrating part of the first half of the movie. Besides being slow the story was convoluted and pretty strange. But i was still holding out a little hope, then all of a sudden there was it was my gleam of hope, when you see the man transform into a werewolf for the first time, it looked very smooth and very clean, and sadly was literally the best part of the movie. As the man finishes his transformation the wolf that rises does not strike fear into my heart but laughter into my belly, because the wolf that rises is very similar to a wolf of many years past... I remember saying to myself, "wait is that a fucking teen wolf??" And sadly even though it looked identical to a werewolf from a low budget comedy of the 80's it was not in a sports jersy shooting hoops but rather was howling at the moon doing its best to be menacing. Even now I am struck with the realization that this is what the studio saw, this is the reason it got pushed back to the lower class season of movies. After this sad pathetic attempt at making a werewolf I was completely drawn out of the movie and found my self nodding off and laughing more then engaging in the film. When the end finally came I left that theater as quick as possible ready for cleansing my eyes and mind of that painful eye rape.

Overall I was really really excited for this movie after the first trailer, and when the posters came my excitement continued. I noticed my feelings turning a bit when the standee came out and it was cheap and pretty uninteresting, but I still held out hope. And even though my fellow employees warned me of what was to come I still held out some hope. But yet it was not worth the time. The film was bad. The only good thing that came from it was the transformation. The story was terrible and honestly a bit predictable. The makeup was just horrific and this coming from the day and age where you see amazing things happening on screen. I would suggest no one to watch this movie, maybe renter just out of morbid curiosity but nothing good came of it.

Sne@Ky

District 13 Ultimatum

This was a movie that I was extremely excited for... in fact I actually downloaded it twice so I could get the subtitled version instead of the lame dubbed version. I remember watching the first one a few years back when I lived in Portland at the Fox Tower. Even then I was tripping balls about the movie. So when I discovered that their was a second one coming out in a couple of weeks I was very ready to go watch it. But after finding that it was not releasing in any theaters around here and that it was not releasing on dvd until May or March or something like that my arm was forced and I had to download it...
So now after a little set up on how I obtained the movie how about a little set up on the previous and current movie... The movie stars David Belle an achieved Free runner with many internet videos on youtube and such. He is very talented at what he does and is fun to watch. It also stars Cyril Raffaelli not a household name to most but has stared in movies such as Kiss of the dragon(with jet li) and Live free die hard. In which he was a hacker with the bad guys and jumped around and kicked a lot. The premise of the movies is that there is a section called District 13 (distict b-13 in the first one). This section or sector of the city has been cut off from the rest of Paris with a giant wall and is ran by drug lords and in both movies more or less the government is trying to destroy the city so they can rebuild it.
Quick review of the previous film. It was damn amazing full of awesome action and full of amazing stunts. The story was ok at best but the movie, which was directing by people involved in the making of Ong Bak, was fun as hell and action packed.
This movie though fell a little short. I was super excited and after the first scene, though disturbing I was still excited. But after this it started to go a little plain. The movie still had some awesome action but it was definitely fewer and much further between. Even though there was still some action it was a far stretch to the first. In the first it was fluid and creative and in this one it felt forced and the camera angles killed some of the parkor stunts. Everything about the action was less interesting. The story was just as lame if not more lame and definitely more corny and unbelievable. There was more comical aspects which actually made it lame. There were more people involved which may be the reason it killed some of the action.
But to be fair maybe I shouldn't compare it to the previous one and try to look at it as an individual entity. From an action movie perspective it was entertaining enough. I enjoyed the moments of action that were in the flick. The story was good enough and not to far from other action movies in that I mean the story doesn't draw away from the action. On an action scale I would give it a 6/10.
Overall the movie was fun and I am glad I watched it. I am also glad I did not buy it because I am pretty sure I will never watch it again. There were a couple scenes that I would kill to watch again and again, primarily the opening scene. But the movie was less fun and not nearly as good as the first one. I would recommend the first one to anyone who hasn't seen it and I would recommend the second one for a one time watch(only after the first one). This film still does fall in a short line of films that are very fun to watch and dont come to this side of the world very often. Usually has awesome action and stunts that are out of this world and usually the lamest stories ever. Movies that dont use wires and dont use CG just old fashioned action and stunts that could seriously injure all involved. If you like this film I would suggest Ong Bak, The protector, Chocolate and there are probably more but this is all I know.

Pirate Radio (the boat that rocks)

I went to watch this movie at the Olympia Film Society theater. And I wasn't really sure what to think about it. I had seen that it had come and gone but I didn't really anything about it after that. I played at the Regal (evil) theater up the road but time just wasn't on my side. And I wasn't to sure about the theater we chose to watch this. But Let me say that all worries were extinguished when I saw this film. The theater was cool, good sound and great picture and just fun. And same goes to the movie. Funny as hell great music awesome story and great great acting on all points. This film was pretty freakin awesome to say the least. I enjoyed literally all aspects of it. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was damn amazing. He played a great character that was very well rounded and fit into his skill set perfectly. Nick Frost was a joy to watch as usual. I enjoy how he plays characters so carefree and fun. But all the characters fit together well and were just hands down fun. And I couldn't say enough about the music. Its nothing but pure classic awesome rock. Another final note I will say that the movie visited a gambit of emotions. I would suggest this to anyone who likes movies. I would suggest this to anyone who likes Music. I would suggest this for people who like great characters. And I would suggest this for anyone who... Hell anyone at all. This movie is for all people and I could imagine anyone getting sucked in quickly and enjoying this film. It was great. I am just sad I waited so long to watch this. I cant wait to check out a couple of the other movies I missed last year.

Rope: Review

So this is not a new film by any means and it took me a little while to watch this even though I had it at my house from netflix for about a month. I ended up watching this film and I have to say that I was really really impressed by it. The acting was great the story was amazing and twisted. I have always enjoyed Alfred Hitchcock's films, but this one was damn amazing. Jimmy Stewart played the antagonist great and it was interesting seeing how their minds worked everything out. I have to say this one probably tops my list of Hitchcock films. So overall anyone who likes thinking classic films would enjoy this plus anyone who enjoys mysteries would enjoy this.

Sherlock Holmes: Review

So as a man who enjoys pretty much anything Guy Ritchie has done... I will say that I may be a little biased in judging this film. But I will say that this movie was pretty amazing. The acting was great and the story was pretty cool and the directing was good. I think Watson was played very well by jude law and his character fit in very well. I think that Holmes was preformed perfectly by Robert Downy Jr. I dont know how historically accurate the film was and I dont know how perfectly portrayed Holmes was but it was enjoyable as hell. It was definitely classic Ritchie in the fact that very multiple story driven but it doesn't completely make sense until the end of the movie. This is something he does in all films. A couple stories that dont seem to make sense until the end. The action was great. The deductive reasoning was pretty awesome. I loved how he froze time and looked at each angle and planned everything out before hand. I will say that I also enjoyed the directorial decision to not do this too often. Also the best part is that it set it up well for a second movie with completing the current story. It was good and I would suggest it for anyone who doesn't have an issue non-historical films and enjoys Guy Ritchie.

Avatar 3d: Review

So before I go to far into this review let me say. If you only watch one 3d movie ever in your life you need to watch this one. So far with this new digital 3d technology all the live action 3d movies have been pretty terrible. But this one blew my mind. This one was graphically one of the most beautiful movies I have ever seen. Every thing about this movie was beautiful, in fact I would suggest that anyone that is close enough to an imax and has the extra cash to make the trip should go to that, but if you cant make it to the imax at least go for the 3d. The 3d was amazing and not wasted, no corny shots, no waste just beauty. It was hands down epic. Now onto the story: The story was pretty good, a little hippie-ish but non the less a pretty bad ass film concept. I will say that even though I didn't find too many times when I was feeling bored I did think it was still a bit long. I would probably watch it again but not too often. Probably the best part of it was the last 30 minutes or so when it left story mode and entered epic movie mode. I will say that the only problem with the movie was all the preachy message that came from it... and anyone who is... well republican will probably have an issue with this flick. It hates on the military pretty hardcore, it hates on big business, it hates on people who dont love nature. But minus the message add in the amazing graphics and mix in some epic action and you have a pretty amazing movie.

Up in the Air: Review

Last Tuesday I watched this film. I have to say that I truly enjoyed it. The film was excellent, the acting was very good and all characters played their role great. This is a film that reminds of GardenState which was a great film also. For a person who enjoys a beginning middle and end, you may not enjoy this flick. For a person who enjoys films that are full of action or whatever this may not be your film. This is rather a film that is about a persons experience and the changing life he may go through. I laughed I teared up and I almost swore a bit. The movie was amazing. Out of the 3 films that I watched that day this may have been my favorite. Its an amazing roller coaster of emotion and a great story. It had all things that I really enjoy. I will be the first to admit that it may be a bit indie for most, but I love that kind of movie.