RandomMuch

July 8, 2010

Oohh, very good remake-san.

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , — Arturo @ 12:59 am

That has got to be, by far, indubitably, unequivocally, the most absurd title I have come up with… LOL.  But it’s my blog and I reserve the right to be dumb.  So HA!

I saw this movie over a week ago, so it may not be as spring-time fresh in my head as I would like.  But I think I’ll do juuuuust fine.  I’ll even skip the usual, blabbering intro to make up for my possible failure.  This post is reviewing the remake of the 80′s classic, The Karate Kid.  Let’s go!

The bad:  Not much bad to whine about.  One thing that definitely stood out was the homages.  I am all for paying homage to the original.  In fact, I insist on it.  But, this movie seemed to have a little too much, if that’s even possible.  I was getting to a point where I was starting to predict where they would through in a line from the original, word-for-word.  It was a bit distracting.  The only other complaint I might have is that they threw in a curve-ball from WAY out in left field(I apologize for my baseball reference, not really my sport of choice).  I won’t spoil the surprise for those who haven’t seen it, but needless to say, you’ll know it when you see it.  If you’ve seen the original that is.  And you have better seen the original.  It’s a major revelation about Mr Miyagi and it made for a very tearful but almost too dramatic moment, albeit well acted.

The good:  I’m hoping I can keep this short.  I love how they made this version contemporary.  The plot is a little out there.  Possible?  Yes.  But just not the most likely of scenarios.  Having to move to China… Hmm?  But they pulled it off rather well.  Little Mr. Jaden Smith, AKA Will Smith’s son, did a pretty good job.  He’s no, Will Smith, but he’s still a kid and has potential.  It’s obvious that he really does study martial arts though.  Jackie Chan is always fun to watch and his performance in the aforementioned dramatic scene was very convincing.  Maybe not Oscar worthy, but I bought it.  The upgrade from traditional Karate to Kung Fu, I thought, was a nice touch as well.  Way better choice than the MMA infused wanna-be-remake known as Never Back Down.  *gag*  I also like that they made this new Karate Kid an actual kid.  It brought a refreshing dynamic that made it more uplifting when he succeeds.

Overall, I loved this movie.  I’m actually a little perplexed as to which I like better… the old or the new.  I guess I can say that the old one has a special place in my heart.  I have been a LONG time fan of Martial Arts, and the original Karate Kid helped solidify that.  This new version however, reignited that love and I am SOOO grateful for that.  You might not have the same “awakening” when you see this new Karate Kid, but I am confident that you will enjoy it.

Using my 5 star rating system, I give this movie 4 and a half stars.  It was just short of perfect in that I did catch myself actually thinking rather than just enjoying the movie.  But VERY rarely.

–

AC

P.S.

Please give this site a looksy… maybe you’ll likey.   www.lipsyncallstars.com

June 7, 2010

I no longer want my MTVeeeeee…

Filed under: Celebrities, Movies, Personal Thoughts — Tags: , , , , , , — Arturo @ 12:42 am

These may very well be the ramblings of an aging cynic.  But it’s my blog and I’ll do as I please.  We’ve all had those moments where some one older than us goes on and on about how “back in my day”.   And at some point, we’ve all rolled our eyes.  And just as the sun shall rise tomorrow, the day will come when we will lecture in just the same way.  If we haven’t already.  Over the passed two or three years, my rantings on this very subject have become more and more pronounced.  And I shall consider this blog entry as my official step from still kinda-young-cool guy to old fogey.

Believe me when I say that the things I loved as a young man were offensive to the generation ahead of me.  My parents would have never approved of a lot of the things I hid from them, and didn’t much approve of the things that they did know about.  And the times that my grandparents felt the need to chime in were especially fun.  And just as they didn’t understand my generation, I don’t understand this generation.  Let us begin with MTV in general.  I loved MTV back in my day.  See what I did there?  I’ve always loved music and the opportunity to SEE the music that I loved to listen to was exciting to say the least.  And I totally understood the need to have breaks from the music videos and have an occasional show here and there.  But now, there are nothing but shows and no music videos.  Most of the shows aren’t even music related.  They have crap like The Road Rules Challenge, 16 and Pregnant, and my personal favorite to hate on, My Sweet 16.  Do NOT get me started on that show.  And the show they do, or did, have showing music videos is a top ten countdown where they show a clip of the video and then have the host make whatever comment or remark that will make the live audience scream their teenage heads off like if they just saw Justin Bieber walk in the room.  Don’t get me started on him either.  When VH1 first came out, I was all about Team MTV and screw them.  Then I started watching VH1 cause they were still showing music videos.  And now they’re just as bad as MTV.

Now, on to the Award Shows.  So the MTV Music and Movie awards have been the place for the people to vote rather than the critics or the Academy.  Granted, the more prestigious award shows are usually right in tune with the general populous, but I think it adds a special dynamic when we as fans know that the votes come from us directly.  But the choices being made now a days simply astound me.  I could nitpick each category of each show, but for the sake of time I will choose only one to rant about.  And the winner is, Best Female Performance on the MTV Movie Awards shown tonight(June 6, 2010).  The nominees were Amanda Seyfried for Dear John, Kristen Stewart for Twilight: New Moon, Emma Watson for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Sandra Bullock for The Blind Side, and Zoe Saldana for Avatar.  And the award went to… *drum roll*… Kristen “Can’t Act” Stewart.  Really?  Seriously?  It goes without saying that Twilight is garbage, especially when compared to The Blind Side.  But let’s put that aside for a moment since this about Best Female Performance and not Best Movie.  On what planet does Kristen “Bella” Stewart compare to Sandra Bullock as an actress?  Yes, Sandra came out in movies like The Demolition Man.  But come on.  The Demolition Man was Shakespeare compared to Twilight.  Kristen Stewart isn’t even acting in Twilight.  She had to play an annoying female… she IS an annoying female.  Where’s the talent in that?  Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side played a middle class, suburban housewife, which she is NOT.  That alone means she deserves it more.  Let alone the fact that Sandra is a REAL actress.

I know in the end it’s just me being an old fogey and rambling about “back in my day”, but that’s a right of passage.  And I choose to exercise my right.  At the very least I can admit where I am wrong, and take the consequences like a man.  Any one that wants to bash me for my opinions here, go right ahead.  Just please don’t defend Twilight to me.  It will get you no where, fast.  I won’t even waste my time responding.

–

AC

P.S.

Just another quick example: Best Movie nominees were… Alice in Wonderland, Avatar, Twilight: New Moon, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, and The Hangover.  The winner, as you may have guessed, was Twilight.  Better than The Hangover?  Come on.  Better than Avatar.  Shut the Front Door on your way out.  Lame.  Lame.  LAME!

April 8, 2010

You will Shutter on this Island

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , , , — Arturo @ 2:21 am

Sorry, that’s the best title I could come up with.  Let me start off by saying that I have never liked Leonardo DiCaprio.  I might have given him a pass for The Departed, but other than that, he had the second spot on my “I can’t stand this actor/actress” list all to himself.  Johnny Depp taking the number one spot, for those wondering.  But like I said, since he got that pass and since this is a Martin Scorsese film, I had to give it a shot.  How’d it fair?

The bad: I was sort of looking forward to seeing a bit of a thriller, semi-horror movie.  I wanted to see what Scorsese would do with that genre.  But as it turns out, this movie was NOT scary at all.  At least not in the traditional horror movie sense.  the trailer is a bit misleading, which I really don’t like.  But that’s about the only disappointment I experienced.  I guess the only other thing I can say is that the plot twist at the end was heart wrenching.  There’s a few of things I find VERY difficult to partake in, even in fiction, and this movie had one of them.  In spades.

The good: Great movie.  Regardless of how difficult the end was to watch, I am glad that I experienced this movie.  Leonardo was very convincing in this movie.  The whole thing was well acted.  It was well directed.  And I felt like I was immersed in the mini world of Shutter Island.  It was interesting to sit and watch it unfold before me.

This movie reminded me of The Sixth Sense in that, I cannot watch it again.  Once I saw the end, I knew I couldn’t sit through the movie ever again and have the same experience.  Not that that’s a bad thing.  It’s just that it will not have the same effect to see everything unravel and then hit you like a ton of bricks when you realize what’s going on.  According to my rating system, I give it a 4 and 1/2 stars out of 5.  It’s not a perfect 5 only because I can see there being some people that wouldn’t like this kind of movie.  And I think 5 stars are reserved for movies that cannot be missed by anyone.  And Shutter Island is not quite there.  I do, however, highly recommend it.

–

AC

Clash of the Preferences

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , — Arturo @ 2:01 am

It seems this year my birthday was split in 3 pieces.  Thursday afternoon, my wife and I just chilled out together.  Friday we got together with some friends.  And Saturday we had lunch with my mom and grandma.  I’m special like that.  The capper was an evening at the movies.  And I must admit I was a bit excited, but more skeptical.  You see, we saw Clash of the Titans and I loved the original.  So much so that I wasn’t quite sure I wanted to ruin the memory by watching the new one.  But I just had to and here’s how it went.

The good: As soon as I let go of my convictions, I actually started enjoying the movie.  There were enough changes in the story to make it almost a completely different movie.  But just enough similarities to remind you it is in fact a remake.  Visually, it was great.  I did not see it in 3D so I cannot really comment on that aspect.  Although I chose not to see it in 3D because I read that not only was it upconverted to 3D rather than shot in 3D, but it was done so in about 8 weeks prior to release.  Which is not a lot of time.  But I was very pleased watching in good, old fashioned 2D.

The bad: Just about everything else.  The actor playing Persius was not very convincing, especially with the unsure of himself attitude he portrayed.  He was motivated by revenge and was determined to avenge a great loss, but it seemed like he himself doubted he could pull it off.  In the original, Persius was a name-taker/ass-kicker.  But the new Persius seemed more lucky than good at what he did.  It was not the best time I’ve had at the movies in a while and it was punctuated with one of the most anti-climactic endings I have seen, maybe ever.  They did give one major nod to the original, but changed some things that I believe made the original a better movie.  This was a typical action/adventure movie, while the original was indeed a Greek tragedy.  This new version had some emotion in it, but nothing that Homer would write about.  And, no, not the fat guy from the Simpsons.  I could knit pick this movie ’til I turn blue but I’ll just say that I did end up more disappointed than pleased.

If you saw and liked the original, either avoid this version or go in expecting to see a very different movie.  If you never saw the original, I might actually suggest giving it a shot.  I’m too much of a fan of the original to give it any better than a 3 out of 5 stars.  I know that the stop-motion effects in the original are tacky in comparison but if given a choice to watch either of the two, I’ll stick with the original.

–

AC

March 8, 2010

The Oscars have made ME the grouch…

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , , , , — Arturo @ 10:26 pm

For many years, I had enjoyed watching the Academy Awards.  I liked the spectacle of it.  The glamour of it.  The grandeur.  Then as I got older I realized how strange it seemed that movies I thought were better than others were losing.  How actors that I thought were spectacular, lost to someone more popular.  So more and more I disliked the Academy Awards.  Not to mention most awards shows.  I whine and whine about it, but most of the time I end up watching anyway.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to watch the whole awards show, but I did see the end where Katheryn Bigelow won Best Director AND Best Movie.  I just about lost it.  I gladly admit that I did not see ALL the movies nominated this year.  But I have read a lot of reviews on the films.  I did see Avatar, The Hurt Locker, Precious, Up, Inglorious Basterds and District 9.  That’s 6 out of the 10.  From those I saw, I thought the 5 were better movies than The Hurt Locker.  And I had read RAVE reviews about Up In The Air.  Now, for some strange reason, I love war movies.  If it’s a mafia movie or war movie I will watch it.  And I usually like them.  But The Hurt Locker was NOT a great movie.  I enjoyed it.  And I’d gladly watch it again.  But it was NOT an Academy Award winning movie.  The Hurt Locker was slightly better than Jarhead, and there’s no way that Jarhead would ever win or even be nominated for  an Oscar.

I finally read about how the Academy selects movies.  Especially since I had heard and read for a while that there was a lot politics involved.  And it turns out that money plays a HUGE role in which nominees win.  And that was especially interesting to me since the company that put out The Hurt Locker, Summit, is the same company that put out those Twilight things.  Now if you think of how much money that Twilight crap has made Summit, imagine how much of that went towards promoting The Hurt Locker for an Oscar.

I am not sexist or racist in any way.  Before anyone starts with the political crap.  I don’t care if a chimp ends making the best movie I’ve ever seen, I say give him an Oscar and a banana for all I care.  But this Academy Awards thing and having seen Alice In Wonderland the day before has clouded my love of movies.  Luckily the summer movies extravaganza is ramping up and I should be able to salvage some of my movie love.

–

AC

March 7, 2010

Alice in Blunderland

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , , , , — Arturo @ 4:37 pm

Unfortunately I am not much of a reader.  I have given it a fair chance, but the truth is I honestly believe I have a reading disability.  I notice that I sometimes have to read sentences more than once to grasp the content.  Where as if it is said aloud to me, I comprehend immediately.  The reason I mention this is because, on top of the fact that I would love to read more, there are certain stories I would much rather experience in written form.  At the very least, before I see the movie.  Perfect example: I would have loved to have read The Lord of the Rings before seeing the movie.  I can die a happy man if I never get to read the actual book, but one that I will make a point to go back and read are the tales of Alice and Wonderland.  Before I say exactly why, even though it may seem obvious at this point, let’s get into the review.

The good:  It didn’t completely suck.  That’s the best I can say.  The only things that saved it for me, were Helena Bonham Carter and Crispin Glover.  Those two are almost to the point that they can do no wrong in my eyes.  I believe Tim Burton is pretending to be dark and gothy, whereas Carter and Glover are genuinely, dark and  unique people.  The best line in the movie is when Alice is told and later tells someone that basically it is OK to be “mad”, some of the best people are.  And that is entirely true about Carter and Glover.  The only other thing I might say is good, is that it has a few awe-inspiring visuals, but I believe they could have done more with them.

The bad:  Where to begin?  Since I left off the good with the visuals, let’s start there.  Like I said, there are some great shots in this movie.  BUT… I found it disheartening that this movie was not shot in 3D.  It was shot in 2D and converted into 3D.  That was very obvious when seeing it.  I told my wife upon our departure that this movie could have been for 2D, what Avatar is for 3D.  Instead, someone lacked the proverbial “testicular fortitude” to say, “NO!  We are making a 2D feature and will NOT convert it into 3D.  This movie could have accomplished so much more just being the best of the old and not trying to just, “fit in”.  Which is ironic, because that’s what I think Burton does, just tries to “fit in”.  He is not goth.  He is not dark.  And he is not that great of a director.  The only time he managed to NOT mess up a movie for me was when he told stories that were already dark.  Batman and Sweeney Todd.  Other than that, it seems like they come up to him and say, “We want you to do a movie about (insert plot here).”  And his response, “Oh oh oh, can I make it a “DARK” (insert plot here).  And with a rolling of the eyes the execs say, ” Yesssss Timmy.  Go ahead.”  He even has to go as far as to change it from Wonderland to Underland.  Really Timmy?  Seriously?  The actress that plays Alice has only two emotions: “poor little me” and “now I’m mad”.  She is very cute, but didn’t do very well.  Another thing, Johnny Depp is one of the most overrated actors in history.  The only role he knows how to play well is “weird”.  He did well as Carl Jung in Blow but that’s because he played a real person he didn’t have to interpret.  He was a walking corpse in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.  Otherwise he does “weird” like no one else.  And not even a good “weird”.  Eddie Scissorhands, Crybaby, Willy Wonka, The Mad Hatter, Jack Sparrow… all weird.  The only other role that stands out is Sweeney Todd and that’s because he didn’t play weird, he just played sinister and angry.  Just because he stepped out of his comfort zone a couple times does not make him a good actor.  I found nothing to really enjoy about this movie.  For that reason, I look forward to making myself read the books so I cam wash this movie out of my head.  Edit:  I can’t believe I almost forgot.  I try not to say too much about the plot of the movie for the sake of those that read this and have yet to see the movie.  But here’s a bit of a spoiler.  They keep talking about a dance that The Hatter is good at, and then they finally show it.  WTF?!?!!  It is one of the, if not THE, stupidest thing I have seen in a movie… EVER!

If you are one of these little emo punks running around, or if you’re one of the fake goths, or if you are a die-hard Timmy Burton fan, then MAYBE you’ll like this movie.  If you’re an Alice in Wonderland fan, I can’t say from experience, but I think you’ll be disappointed.  If you’re just a movie fan, like me, I venture to say that you’ll be disappointed too.  According to my star rating,  1 star means “avoid at all costs”, and 3 stars is “watch it but wait for the DVD”.  This is right in between.  2 stars means “watch if forced, as in: on a date or you lost a bet”.

–

AC

P.S

I gladly admit that it might be my hatred for all things Timmy that makes my review seem biased.  BUT… I did like the 1989 Batman and I gave Sweeney Todd a try even though it was Timmy and I liked that as well.  I also liked Beetlejuice at the time, and I love Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.  So there!

March 5, 2010

Stepfather, Please Step Aside.

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , — Arturo @ 1:34 am

OK, my beloved followers, all three of you.  I apologize for leaving you without my rantings for over two weeks now.  I’m sure you were calling your ISPs(Internet Service Providers) to make sure that you weren’t getting faulty service.  But, not to fret, for I am back.  OK, so that was over dramatic, but so much fun to fantasize.  So, seriously here we go.

I have a goal set for myself to start watching more movies.  As I’ve stated before, I lost sight of my partaking in movies and I want to get back to one of my favorite activities.  I have a mental list of movies that I need to make sure to watch.  And one such movie was The Stepfather.  Upon seeing the previews, I joked that I didn’t want to see it because it looked WAY to Disturbia-ish to me.  I’ve noticed more and more lately, a sign of getting older, that more frequently I see movies being remade over and over.  Like if someone saw a movie, and said to themselves, “What if we take that movie, change _______ and ______?  We could make a fortune.”  And it comes to pass.  That is exactly what I thought of The Stepfather.  They took Disturbia and said, “Let’s pretend that the mom DID hook up with the crazy neighbor.  Let’s show what family life would’ve been like.”  Was I right or wrong?  Let’s find out.

The bad.  This movie was in fact that.  It was someone’s idea of what would’ve happened if Disturbia took that road I mentioned.  I mean down to the angsty teenager that’s a bit of a rebel.  The hottie girlfriend.  Psycho killer.  Oblivious mom.  All Stepfather needed to do was to kill the dad rather than have him divorc….. OH WAIT, they DO kill him.  Which leads me to another problem I had with this movie.  This psycho kills everyone.  If someone looked at this guy wrong, he just kills them.  Dog pees in his yard, dead.  Mailman drops off the wrong letter, dead.  Wrong order at the drive-thru window, dead.  I mean this guy kills his left foot for falling asleep on him.  OK… bad joke, but you get the point.  I even told my wife at one point that if he killed a certain character, I was going to be REALLY upset.  Not so much cause I liked the character, but because like I told my wife also, the movie leaves NOTHING to feel good about.  I believe there are two kinds of movies.  The movies that no matter how bad things get, there’s that light at the end of the tunnel and you walk away feeling OK, because it had a pretty happy ending.  Then there are those that are just hard movies, that leave you with a sense of dread.  No happy ending.  Perfect examples: Disturbia.  Psycho killer, kills a few people, but in the end he gets his due, the hero gets the girl and life looks like it will get better.  Then there’s Se7en.  Psycho killer kills some people, turns himself in, but still manages to get the best of the cops and although he dies, HE is still the ultimate winner.  No REAL happy ending.  The Stepfather seems to want to do both.  So many people died and he basically gets away with it all.

The Good.  I will admit that it had me watching intensely.  Although mostly to see who else they were gonna kill.  And how crazy this guy really was.  But mostly it just reminded me why I liked Disturbia so much and I am going to get Disturbia to watch again soon.  So that’s a plus, I guess.

In the end, if you want to see a suburban psycho killer movie, watch Disturbia.  The Stepfather was not the worst movie in the world, but there are plenty of other movies to please your craving.  According to MY rating system, 2 stars means watch only if forced by a date or on a dare.  3 stars is worth watching, but wait for the DVD.  At best, I give this movie 2 & 1/2 out of 5 stars only because if there’s nothing else at your local Redbox or Blockbuster, I wouldn’t blame you for picking it up just to scratch it off your list.  Just don’t plan your night around this ONE movie.  Get a couple of movies and watch this one first, so you can get it out of the way and end on a high note.

–

AC

February 16, 2010

Orale vato. I Like Sherlock, Holmes.

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , — Arturo @ 4:18 am

Sorry, I had to.  For those that don’t get it, it’s a cholo joke.  And not a very good one.  But it’s almost 3 in the AM and I am trying to crank this one out so I can get a couple hours sleep and go home.  I’m at work, FYI.  So… As stated here and there, mostly a couple posts back, I am not much of a reader.  I wish I were.  One of the things I’ve always wanted to read were the stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Sherlock Holmes is one of those things that if I hear about it, I perk my ears up and pay attention.  So when I heard a movie was coming out I was VERY interested.  Then I found out that Robert Downey Jr was the lead and I gasped.  Not cause he’s a bad actor.  Not at all. But because I have this theory, that when actors are given great roles in movies, there is a clause in the contract that says that they have to appear in some crap movie afterwards.  That way, a movie that otherwise would bomb at the box office, will have a chance because people will want to see whatever they come out in next.  Keanu Reeves came off The Matrix Trilogy and did Constantine.  Will Smith had Independence Day and Men in Black and then did Wild Wild West.  Sandra Bullock did Speed and then The Net.  Edward Furlong did Terminator 2, then does Pet Cemetary 2.  You get the point.  So seeing how Bobby had Iron Man and The Soloist, I was a little skeptical.  Let’s see how it did.

Sherlock Holmes is directed by Guy Ritchie.  Starring Robert Downey Jr from Iron Man, Tropic Thunder, The Soloist, and Only You.  Jude Law from Alfie, Enemy at the Gates, and The Talented Mr. Ripley.  And Rachel McAdams from The Time Traveler’s Wife, Wedding Crashers, and The Notebook.  Sherlock Holmes follows the fictional world’s second best detective and his sidekick Watson as they battle a mastermind and his plan to rule the England and maybe even the world.

The bad: I don’t really like movies where the plot pulls you this way and that way, and then this way again.  You have to pay extra close attention just to keep up.  This movie felt that way for some reason.  Almost like it was trying too hard to seem intelligent.  Another thing that I kind of liked but got a little too much was all the explaining.  Yes, Sherlock is the second best detective in the fictional world(that’s right, SECOND).  Yes, he’s smarter than almost everyone around him.  And yes, we know he notices things that no one else does.  But explaining his method of deduction and overall reasoning every other scene got a little boring.  And his long-winded monologue at the end was drawn out more than it should have been.  This last one is more nit picky.  I am a big fan of everything steampunk and I was REALLY hoping there would be some cool steampunk in this movie.  But alas, my hopes were dashed.  Also, the fact that Holmes and Watson were both major ass-kickers was a bit far-fetched.  They could’ve at least given some insight as to why they both know mixed martial arts in the 19th century.

The good:  It was very much Sherlock Holmes.  I think they did a great job showing the volatile relationship between Holmes and Watson.  I like how it only introduces Professor Moriarty, setting up some killer sequels.  I like Bobby in this film although they did make Holmes seem too much like Dr. House.  I always saw Holmes as a sophisticated detective and this movie made him seem more like a shut-in, alcoholic who happened to be a genius.  Almost like Tony Stark’s great great grandfather.  Coincidence?

Over all, I liked the movie.  I know I seemed to complain more than I praised, but I’m weird like that.  I would recommend it to almost anyone.  At the very least as a “worth checking out” flick.  I give it 4 out of 5 stars.

–

AC

P.S.

And I don’t care how silly I sound, but Batman is THE greatest detective in the fictional world.  Ask any one.

Daybreakers? More Like Daybroken.

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , — Arturo @ 3:38 am

This is part two of my movie review trinity.  I’ll transition in to this review by stating, as I did briefly in the intro to my New Moon review, I have had a bit of a fascination with werewolves and vampires since I was a kid.  I try my best to try all things vamp or wolfy when it comes my way.  I even watched Twilight for crying out loud.  So, When I heard about Daybreakers, I was somewhat interested since it was coming off as a different take on the vampire lore.  Let’s use that as our springboard and jump in, shall we?

Daybreakers is directed by the Spierig Brothers.  Starring Ethan Hawke from Training Day, Gattaca, and Alive.  Willem Defoe from the Spiderman Trilogy, Shadow of the Vampire, and Platoon.  And Sam Neil from Jurassic Park, The Piano and The Hunt for Red October.  This is an alternative look at a world where vampires exist.  They no longer live in the shadows like animals, but are actually the dominant species on the planet.  They farm humans for blood and are running short.  As a result, they are looking for alternative food sources and possibly a cure.  Let’s go.

The bad:  When I first thought about writing this review, I thought I was gonna have a lot to say in this section, but I now realize there isn’t much.  The main thing is the constant nudges like, “Get it?  Cause they’re vampires living human lives?”  There’s a few instances, but I don;t care to remember, but the perfect example is they put blood in their coffee.  The story isn’t that great.  They should have used the talented actors they have in it, but fell short.  The ending seemed like they were trying to hard to MAKE you feel something, not sure what.  In the end, I was wishing I could have my 100 minutes back so I can watch something else.

The good:  It has good actors in it.  It’s shot pretty well.  There is a decent car chase scene where they’re trying to get away while avoiding the sun.  The premise behind the cure is a nice touch.  I think that’s the best part about this movie.  It was just outweighed by crap surrounding it.

In the end, if you want to see vampires living among us, watch True Blood.  It’s hard for me to say cause I really don’t like that show, but it certainly is better than this movie.  If I have to say one good thing about Daybreakers, I’ll gladly watch this over any Twilight film.  Yeah, I said it.  F Twilight in its A.

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AC

I Just Won The Superbowl, I’m Going To Zombieland

Filed under: Movies — Tags: , — Arturo @ 3:02 am

Over the past week or so, I have managed to get in some good TV time.  I’m sure my wifey is chuckling while reading this because she’ll say I spend TOO much time in front of the TV.  But I really don’t watch TV.  I put on movies all the time, but I rarely watch them.  I do, however, spend too much time on my Macbook.  The only time I don’t have it in my hands is when I am asleep, eating, or playing a video game.  But I think I’ve done pretty good lately with watching some TV.  I should be reading more, but it is difficult for me.  I think I have a reading disability, no joke.  So anyway, I will be hitting you with three, yes three, reviews.  The first of which being Zombieland.

Zombieland is a comedy horror directed by Ruben Fleishcer.  Starring Woody Harrelson from such movies as No Country For Old Men, Indecent Proposal, Natural Born Killers, and White Men Can’t Jump.  Jesse Eisenberg from Adventureland and The Village.  Emma Stone from The House Bunny and Superbad. And finally, Abigail Breslin from My Sister’s Keeper and Definitely Maybe.  It is a prototypical zombie movie.  The plague has already happened and this is a funny look at how to survive in a zombie infested world.

The bad:  I don;t have too much to complain about.  I did not particularly like the cameo in this movie.  Many will disagree, I’m sure.  But I have never really liked this actor and wasn’t too thrilled when he made his appearance.  At least it was a short appearance.  No reason to ruin it for those who haven’t seen it, so I’ll leave it at that.  The other thing of note was a joke that they bring up pretty frequently and I believe had a couple mentions in the trailers.  But they just seem to abandon it towards the end.   And I think there was a good place for it to come to a head.  Other than those two things the rest is open to criticism.  It’s pretty straight forward and doesn’t try too hard.

The good:  I think the “Rules to Surviving Zombieland” approach was a great idea.  It sets it apart within the genre.  And let’s face it, there are TONS of zombie movies as of late.  I really enjoyed watching Jesse Eisenberg.  I think he pulls off this character better than Michael Cera does in EVERY single role he plays.  Granted I have not seen Youth in Revolt, but he plays the same exact character in every movie, and it’s not even a great character  to boot.  I can’t stand the kid, I’m sorry.  Great for him that he’s making a career out of it.  But Jesse Eisenberg pulls it off WAY better, IMO.  Woody Harrelson is always a pleasure to watch.  And his character is funny as hell.  Emma Stone and Abigail Breslin pull their weight nicely, making this a well-rounded movie.  It has just enough gore, just enough laughs, and even just enough touching moments to make it not just a good zombie movie, but a good movie in general.

It may not be for every one, but if you like zombie movies, comedies, or both… I think you will enjoy Zombieland.  I say 4 out of 5 stars.

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AC

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