Only God Forgives trailer

                                             Only God Forgives Trailer

I'm going to review a trailer today for a movie I'm most looking forward to in the summer. Nicholas Winding Refn directed one of my favorite movies Drive is back with star Ryan Goslin in this dark movie Only God Forgives. This movie looks amazing and what I like about the trailer it doesn't give to much away. What noticed from the trailer is the cinematography looks amazing. In a interview with Refn he said that Drive was like a dream Only God Forgives is like a Nightmare I can't wait.

Ebert

                                Roger Ebert

Besides doing a movie review I wanted to talk about Roger Ebert who just passed away recently. Ebert worked for the Chicago times and had a show in the 80s Siskel and Ebert. I think Ebert was the best movie critic of all time. Not to say I always 100 percent agreed with him but for the most part he knew what he was talking about. What separates him from other critics is that he would change his review if he knew he was wrong. Movies can grow on a person , and sometimes after a first viewing you may think about a movie and realize you liked it. Ebert will be missed.

The Thomas Crown Affair

                                             

 

                                                  The Thomas Crown Affair

I recently caught The Thomas Crown affair on HBO one night. I was little hesitant to watch it since I really didn’t like the remake with Pierce Brosnan, But I’m a huge fan of Steve McQueen so I decided to watch it. I’m glad I did this is a very stylistic movie that moves fast and at times doesn’t have much dialogue, Steve McQueen was a great facial actor and this movie brings out his strengths. The plot is a little different from the remake a debonair, adventuresome bank executive believes he has pulled off the perfect multi-million dollar heist, only to match wits with a sexy insurance investigator who will do anything to get her man. Steve McQueen and Faye Donohue have great on screen chemistry on the screen which is ironic because there were rumors that they didn’t get along behind the scenes. The music is amazing; Michel Legrand does an amazing job. For people who like older movies I recommend this

8/10

 

The way of the Dragon

                                             

 

 

                                                    The Way of the Dragon

When I was about 10 I loved Bruce Lee, I watched all his films and still love them to this day. The Way of The dragon was the second Bruce Lee movie I ever saw after Enter The Dragon, and while I like Enter The dragon This is My favorite Bruce Lee movie. In this film, the one and only Bruce Lee made his directing debut. Not only the movie showed the world why he is the greatest martial artist to ever live, it showed that he is way ahead of his time. This film showcased his astounding skills, agility, and charm much more so than the brilliant classic "Enter the Dragon” and this film will show how truly fast and nimble Bruce Lee is with his fists and feet. What I like what Bruce Lee did was he made it like a western. A lone man goes to a place that is very different and he has conflicts and then continues off into the sunset for other adventures. The fight scenes are unbelievable, and it is already widely regarded that the final Coliseum battle between Tang Long (Bruce Lee) and Colt (Chuck Norris) is the best fighting sequence ever filmed for a movie. Chuck Norris was the Karate champion of the Time so when these guys go at it it’s amazing to watch. It’s almost like when everyone was excited to see Jet Li vs. Jackie Chan in a movie. Bruce Lee vs. Chuck Norris is better because they both were in their prime at that time Do yourself a favor by watching the original Way of the Dragon with all its original Language it makes more since because Bruce Lee character doesn’t speak English in the movie. Those who are content on only watching the English-dubbed version are missing out on a lot!

10/10

The Mechanic remake

 

The Mechanic review

 

During the week I went to see the mechanic starring Jason Statham and Ben Foster. I didn’t knew what to expect from another Jason Statham when he play virtually the same character in all his movies he’s either a hit man or a guy who you can’t mess with in most of his movies. In this movie he plays a hit man they refer to this as a Mechanic. Without giving the plot away he has to do a job that is personal but he still does it. That’s where he meets Ben Foster character Steve the son of his mentor who just died and decides to take him in. this is when I feel the movie starts to pick up. The relationship between the loner Jason Statham character Arthur Bishop and Ben foster Steve McKenna is really good there chemistry on screen is perfect.
 Ben Foster holds his own in this movie his Performance of the film was really something. Still has that slightly psychotic look in his eyes that he had back in Six Feet Under, but he really impresses as a competent and charismatic action star, with his own unique edge.
Most outstanding or memorable feature: Brutality of the action. What I liked about this movie was the character development you really felt for all the characters in this. The direction style was surprisingly good. The movie was directed by Simon West who I’m not too familiar the only other movie I saw from him was Tomb Raider which in my opinion horrible. The action scenes were filmed well the viewer can actually tell whets going on so many action movies today use close ups and shaky camera which distracts the viewer on what’s going on. The violence in this movie is handle well it’s not too violent but the same time it gets pretty gritty when needs to be. I felt satisfied at the end of the movie and I asked some other people on what they thought of the film.
So if you’re a person that likes action movies then you should defiantly give this movie a try. I wasn’t disappointed and got something better than I thought going in. I’ll give this movie 7.5 out of 10.

New Evil Dead

                                                 New Evil Dead

As you all know I’m a big fan of the original Evil Dead and that I was looking forward the remake. It looked like it was going to be the next big horror movie that fans of the genre have been waiting for. In this version it’s not really a remake it’s more of a reboot in some sorts. While there are a lot nods to the original this is a new story, and new characters. Five twenty-something friends become holed up in a remote cabin. When they discover a Book of the Dead, they unwittingly summon up dormant demons living in the nearby woods, which possess the youngsters in succession until only one is left intact to fight for survival. The difference is that one of the main characters needs to detox so her brother in her friends take her to a cabin to help her kick the addiction. The movie starts off really well the pace is excellent and the horror elements are handled really well. But after the midway point the movie doesn’t go anywhere it feels repetitive with the same thing happening over and over. Yes there is a lot of gore but you just don’t really care about the characters to really be frightened by them. The original Evil Dead you cared about Bruce Campbell’s character. Another thing I didn’t like were the demons they all were the same the original one had different types of demons attacking the main character physically and mentally. It’s still a good movie I will recommend it to any horror fan I give this a 7/10

Iron Man 3

                                                                     Iron Man 3

I went into this movie with high expectations. I Liked the first Iron Man movie and the 2nd one wasn’t as bad as many people said. The trailers for this movie were excellent. I thought this was going to be an epic ride. Right from the gecko we see the tone of this movie is campy. Now I’m not against movies that are a little campy, but when you have a trilogy and the first movie was serious you expect that tone to carry over to the next movies. The script was filled with plot holes things didn’t make since and I’m not nitpicking I can let some stuff go but in this case the flaws in the script stood out like a sore thumb. Another problem I had with this movie was Tony Stark; even though Robert Downy Jr. brings a great performance as usual the character just falls flat to me. They try to make him human by giving him anxiety from the events in the avengers but this only happens 3 times in the movie. The rest of the movie you’re never worried about him because you know he’s going to make a one liner and get out of a situation. The villain The mandarin played by Ben Kingsly starts out good but there’s a twist that I’m not going to spoil that’s going to piss off a lot of comic book fans of Iron Man. I know this movie is getting good reviews I don’t understand why I hated it I give this a 4/10

Olympus Has Fallen

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   Olympus Has Fallen review

This year has seen a lot disappointment’s in action movies like A Good day to Die hard Bullet to The head and The Last Stand. Its not like these movies were bad but just didn’t do well in the Box office. A lot of people have commented is because these are Rated R Movies, well I don’t think a movie is defined by its rating I feel that action movies today are afraid to go all out and give us a balls to the wall action movie. Last year I can only think of 2 movies that did this Indonesion movie the Raid and Dredd.
Olympus has fallen delivers on what you want in action movie a simple plot, grutotious violence and a main leading action hero you can cheer for. Gerard butler is back in the action field and my opinion he should stick to that. Im not saying hes a bad actor but I just feel like hes missing an opportunity to be the next big action hero.
Olympus has Fallen is a simple plot North korea takes over the white house and Gerard butlers character is the only one who can save the day. This movie feels like an updated version of air Force one.
8/10

The Evil Dead

The Evil Dead Original

I just recently saw the trailer to the new horror movie Evil Dead and it actually looked good. I'm not really a fan of horror movies or remakes but the new Evil Dead looks very promising. I went back and watched the original Evil Dead that was directed by Sam Raimi, this was one of his first films. Sam Raimi is an odd director when he's good he's really good and when he's bad you get Spiderman 3 in which don't get me started on. The Evil Dead came out in 1981 and was a small budget film, to Sam Raimi's credit he can take a small budget film and make it look good he's really good at handling special effects.
This movie is freaky, Sam Raimi does amazing camera work which really adds to the movie. There are times you feel claustrophobia in the cabin. The makeup effects are also really well done when the characters get possessed they don't look the same as each other. Each demon has their own characteristic. One looks like a zombie another looks like a doll that has a creepy laugh.The film has a simple plot, "Five friends go up to a cabin in the woods, where they find unspeakable evil lurking in the forest. They find a tome called the "Naturan Demanto", Book of the Dead, and the taped translation of the text. Once the tape is played, the evil is released. One by one, the teens are possessed. With only one remaining, it is up to him to survive the night and battle the evil dead". The one character that doesn't get processed is played Bruce Campbell. What I like about this film you see the progression of this character, you can tell that he's terrified and doesn't want any part of this but has no choice My only complaint with this movie is that  the music is dated very badly, it feels very 80s. I would say this is one of my top 10 horror movies, I can't wait for the remake. I was happy the the remake is A rated R horror movie, I can't stand that every horror movie these days are PG 13.. I give The Evil Dead 4/5

Oscars

                         

                                              Oscar's

 I usually never watch the Oscars because I feel that it's very biased on the movies they pick to win. You can go back in history and look at what films won and didn't win and you will be very surprised of what movie won. Citizen Cane which is arguable one of the best films in history. The movie that won it that year was How Green Was My Valley, have you heard of it? Another shocking movie that won Was Shakespeare in Love, it beats out Saving private Ryan that year. I just don't get it who decides the movies that get nominated the Avengers became the highest film grossed in box office history, and yet it was only nominated for one award this year. I think it was a smart move to cast Seth McFarland to attract the younger audience, it boosted the ratings to 11 percent this year. Did this year Oscars keep me more interested? Yes it did I was happy that Argo won since Ben Affleck didn't even get nominated for Best picture 

bourne legacy

Bourne Legacy

Today I was watching the 2nd Bourne movie The Bourne supremacy on tv I thought to myself I haven't seen the 4th the Bourn legacy that came out in august. I was afraid to see it because I heard it was a pointless addition to The Bourne franchise.
When my initial heard they were making a 4th Bourne movie I was happy I was wondering where they were going to go with the character of Jason Bourne. Then the news came that Matt Damon wasn't coming back to play Jason Bourne I was disappointed but also curious what they were going to do. Were they going to change the actor like they introduce with the James Bond series or a us to another character? When I heard that Jeremy Reiner was going to play the lead I thought it was good choice I would-be either hired him or Mark Walberg to play the lead. I have to admit I was a little concerned the Jeremy Reiner was playing a different character and not Jason Bourne.
The plot synopsis ‘The events in this movie takes place around the same time that the events in The Bourne Ultimatum. When a British reporter was writing an expose about Black Ops operations Treadstone and Black Briar, and the ones responsible for them are concerned. And when Jason Bourne, former Treadstone operative got the file on Treadstone and Black Briar and gave it to Pamela Landy who then passed it to the media. When the men behind Treadstone and Black Briar learn of this, they're concerned how this will affects other ops they have. They decide it's best to shut down all ops and make sure make everyone involved disappear’. I see this movie as more of a sidequel than a sequel.
The thing I don't get is why change the formula the first 3 Bourne you had a CIA agent who was very skilled and intelligent, in this Jermey Reiners Asron cross is a like a super soldier that takes pills to enhance his skills. I felt like I was watching a sequel to captain America.
The thing I keep saying in this review that it didn't feel like a boring movie and that's what faults this movie and the the music that was composed by James Newton Howard didn't feel like the amazing score John Powell did for the first 3 movies. Another fault of this movie is the pacing nothing really exciting happens until an hour into the movie which at that point was too late for me.
Jeremy Riener, Rachel Weiz and Edward Norton did a great job in this film, if it wasn't for them this movie would-be sunk. I think this is a mediocre film, I probably would have enjoyed it more if it didn't have the the word Bourne in the title. i give this movie 3.3/5

Raid

 
The Raid Redemption

It's been awhile since a great martial arts movie came out. In 2012 an action movie called the Raid Redemption came out in Toronto film festival, ever since it was released it started getting a lot of attention. I couldn't wait for this movie to come out in America. Since I missed this film when it was in theaters I decided to buy it on Blu Ray, since my friends were hyping this movie. Boy I wasn't disappointed the Raid redemption has become one of my favorite action movies in my opinion it is my 2nd favorite action movie that came out in 2012.
The raid is a simple plot In the Jakarta slums, a derelict apartment building has become Off limits.  The police are unwilling to enter. It has become a safe-house for the most dangerous murderers. A Swat team  must infiltrate the building, to remove its owner a notorious drug lord named Tama. It's a very simple plot almost like a plot for a video game. When the action starts it doesn't let up if you like shoot EM up movies this has it if you like gory knife fights this has it if you like hand to hand brutal combat this defiantly has it. This movie is an adrenaline rush and i enjoyed the ride.
Gareth Evans who directed Marurto has proven that he is a very talented director that has a lot of promise. He shoots in a classic way which I enjoy no shaky cam no quick cuts he lets the actors do the action. With a very low budget Evans has really shown his talent as a director, in the commentary he admits during a slow motion scene he asked actors to move very slow because he just had a basic camera. I was very shocked I couldn't notice at all.
Being the first movie composer mike Shinoda from Linkin Park does a very solid job. He captures the atmosphere on every scene. The acting in this movie is very solid I recommend watching this in its regular language of Indonesian and use the subtitles. Iko Uwais as the lead character Rama does an incredible Job, he is a hero you really root for. Joe Taslim as the joke is also really good I look forward to see him in future projects like Fast and Furious 6. But the man who steals the show is Yayan Ruhian who plays the threatning Mad Dog who rather just shoot someone will rather do it by his hands. Being only 5 foot 2 he still finds a way to be very threatning your on the edge of your seat because you don't know what he's going to do.
The Raid redemption is an entertaining action movie that is a must see for anyone who's a big action buff. If you like brutal fights and gratuitous violence this movie is for you.
4.5/5

Djanogo Unchained review

Django Unchained


Quentin Tarintino has an impressive resume of movies, like Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Resover Dogs and his recent and my opinion his best inglorious Basterds. When I heard he was going to make a spaghetti western Dgango unchained I knew he would do it justice. Quentin Tarintino hasn't really let me down they are only a couple movies I didn't really like, Kill bill Vol 2 didn't live up to the first one and Death Proof in which suffered from long dialogue scenes that didn't go anywhere. But with his last 2 films has really had risen to one of my favorite directors.
Like usual Quentin Tarintino resembled a great cast for Ddjano with the likes of Jaimie fox, Christoper waltz, Samuel Jackson and Leonardo Dicaprio. Right at the beginning of the film you are introducing to Dgango who is played brilliantly by Jamie fox. I like it when an actor can tell the audience so much without a lot of dialogue and Jamie fox does this brilliantly you can tell just from his face what he's thinking. Christopher waltz plays a bounty hunter that that frees Dgango is because he has information on someone he's looking for. The first half of the movie plays like a buddy movie the chemistry between the Waltz and fox is what gets the audience engaged in the movie.
What I like what Tarintino did in Dgango is it has a straight forward narrative. Unlike pulp fiction Kill bill and inglorious Basterds which jump all over the place with its storytelling. I think this is one of Tarantinos best written films because he mixes humor and violence so well, it didn't feel so jarring when the tone of the film switches from being laugh out loud to terrifying violence.
My favorite thing about this movie is Leonardo Dicaperio who plays a plantation owner Mr candy. Every scene he is in he steals the show. I wish Leonardo Dicaprio got Oscar recognition for his great acting in this film. And I can't forget about Samuel Jackson who like always graces the film with his exceptional acting. What Tarintino did is he made Dicaprio and Samuel Jackson are the bad version of Jaimie Fox and Christopher Waltz characters. The way they play off each other is amazing.
The movie is not for everyone. The movie deals with slavery and doesn't take it easy. The N word is used a lot and when I say a lot maybe too much. The way some people die is very violent and is shown in great detail. The movie is long running almost 3 hours long. Some scenes do go on too long Tarintino loves long dialogue scenes.
I highly recommend this movie. It's one of the best films of 2012 in my opinion and Tarrintino second best movie. I still put inglorious Basterds 1st. i give this movie  4.5/5.

Taken 2 review

                                                                   Taken 2 Review
2012 had a great lineup of movies a lot of sequels came out this year like the Dark Knight Rises, Bourne Legacy, Expendables 2. One movie that I was looking forward to was Taken 2. There wasn’t that much marketing early on in but I was still keeping up with it I knew it was going to come out in October, I thought that releasing it at that time was a weird choice since I knew a lot people that wanted to see it and were very excited about it. Why not release it as a summer blockbuster? I was starting to get a little worried but I was still hopeful.
Taken an action movie came out in 2008 and caught everybody by surprise. It resurrected Liam Neeson career as being the go to action hero that everyone can sympathize with. So when I found out they were making a sequel I was very happy. I saw a preview of Taken 2, and I really didn’t know what to think of it I wasn’t disappointed but I really wasn’t that excited to see it. It looked like they weren’t going to try something new and that it was going to be a rehash of the first one but o didn’t care as long as I can see Liam Neeson in action I knew it will be passible.
 October 5th came but the theaters were showing it October 4th at 10, so I got tickets I was excited to see it, then the movie started and I was very disappointed. I haven’t been so disappointed in a movie that I have looked forward since Mission Impossible that came out last year. The movie plot of Taken 2 is a rehash of the first one but it’s even dumber down to the point that it actually insults the movie viewer. I even heard the audience reacting in disbelieve like for an example there was a scene where a Liam Neeson character instructs his 19 daughter who is played by 30 year old Maggie Grace to throw grenades on a roof so he can pinpoint where she is by the noise, no cops or anything even the bad guys don’t look interesting on what’s going on.
The direction in this movie was horrible; they changed the director of the first one Pierre Morel that did a great job shooting the action scenes with Olivia Megaton who directed Transporter 3 and Columbiana. His style of shooting an action scene is different but different isn’t always good. He uses the shaky camera which was made so popular from Paul Greengrass when he shot the Bourne supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum. I don’t like this style what Megaton does is he not only uses shaky cam but he speeds it up and quick edits the fight so it’s really hard to tell what’s going on.
Another thing I noticed was Taken 1 was initially rated 15a in Europe in which in America would be an R rating. Taken 2 is rated 12a in Europe which is a light PG 13 in America, to me this affected the movie not that being more violent is better but if you’re going to do the same thing you did in the first but dumb down the violence than why am I watching the sequel. There were times when watching this film I was overly comparing it to the first Taken. Do I completely blame the director? No I don’t? A recent interview I found online he said “he had to cut out the violence in the action scenes” I found that in a video interview on total film.com. The new Blu ray is a little harder in terms of violence it helps the movie a little you can tell how people get killed but the quick editing shaky camera doesn’t help.
Now as a film reviewer I should give some positive light to the movie. Even though there aren’t many. I thought Liam Nelson Maggie grace and Fameke Janssen did a good job for what they were giving in the script. The music score to the movie I thought was really good Nathaniel Méchaly who did the score for the first Taken was really good especially during the last action set piece of the film.
To wrap this up I think Taken 2 is a disappointing sequel and that doesn’t live up to the first one. I have told friends don’t bother seeing this in the theaters just stay home and watch the first one at home. It was highly forgettable no scene really stood out. Liam Nelson was great but I could tell that he is getting bored with the character. I wish that Pierre Morel came back to direct it. I'm just not a fan of Olivier Megatron. On a side note if you get the Blu ray there is an alternate version of the second act which is completely different and interesting to see. I hope if they do a Taken 3 more effort would be put into the script. I give this 2 out of 5 stars.