Wyndell Long - reviews page 1 movies television

hitman - i actually enjoyed this one a lot. Why you ask? Because I get tired of the assassin movies where we catch the hitman at the point of his career where this is the 'last job' and everyone he kills brings deep guilt. THere's none of that here. I love lone assassin movies and books (you have to read the John Rain series by Barry Eisler), and I also dig the video game series which this move is based on. It's r-rated filled with senseless violence and killing based on the same "you F me over and I'll burn you" tag in which the hitman has been betrayed by the people who give him jobs. Timothy Olyphant is great as agent 47. He doesn't understand human chick behavior, and just wants to rub bad guys out. Dougray Scott, who you may remember from MIssion Impossible 2, is the police guy who been on 47's trail. Finally you have the stunning Olga Kurylenko (who's in the new BOnd flick) walking around half naked, naked, and sometimes clothed giving 47 a hard time remaining celibate, The movie is shot nicely, has a good pace to it, and doesn't try to get all heavy on you. And this is one assassin who will pull the trigger in a minute, and then go to subway to eat fresh. CHeck it out, worth viewing if you like r-rated action. I know it will never happen but a sequel would be nice.

Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou -This is a quirky film. Bill Murray is basically Bill Murray for s hours. A oceanographer on a quest to find the deadly fish which killed his friend (it was tagged) accompanied by a mix and match crew. Luckily this crew is acted out by a great supporting cast. Owen Wilson, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Huston, Willem Dafoe, Jeff Goldblum with direction by the always cool strange Wes Anderson.

ultraviolet - Late to watching this one. As much as I like chicks kicking ass in movies and television shows, I guess there's a place you can take it which gets so ridiculous you have to finish the flick cuz you started it. Ultraviolet is kind of like "Shoot em up", which came out a few years after this one. It's a video game where the lead actor is in God mode. THere's a story in there somewhere about a virus and a kid who's either bad for us or good for us. All I really remember really are the close ups on goddess Milla Jovovich's tight abs and barely there ass. Everything else is a motion blur.

Doctor Who - The Fires of Pompeii - Have to mention this episode even though the seasons not even half way done. WHat an extraordinary episode of TV. Like how Dr Who used to be before all the horny assistants. Sci Fi and nuthing but Sci Fi. David Tennant is really working his way up my favorite Doctor list, and Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) is a refreshing change to the show. I don't know anything about Catherine Tate other than the dr who xmas special she was in and that's great cuz she gets a lot of negative press thrown her way for reason's I don't get. 2 episodes in to the new season and I'm glad there is no Rose n Martha aboard the TARDIS. They were good in their own right but it seemed the focus of the show became these little love triangles. Judging from the first tow episodes on the new season it looks like there;s going to be from great WHO to come. The Fires of Pompeii is as close to perfect your going to get for a 45 minute episode of Doctor Who (in the 60's thru 90's Doctor Who episodes were basically 100 minute movies), and that ain' t easy. I hope Russell Davies continues to let outside writers shine. That's when Doctor Who is at it's best. Russell seems to be a much better producer than writer,at least in the Dr Who universe. Looking forward to the rest! -mar 08: so far so good, really loving this season.

war inc - You might be thinking gross point blank sequel from the trailers. Not so. What you got here is a movie that hardcore fans of Cusack will like, and that's about it. I like Cusack (in certain roles) and I liked War Inc. Nothing I need to see again. It has it's moments. Marisa Tomie still looks like a woman worth worshiping. Hilary Duff is way out of character as a exploited russian singer. You got Cusack's sister and some Dan Akroyd thrown in. The story is a mess, no doubt. If your a fan hopelessy waiting for a sequel to gross point blank you'll enjoy the movie. That's the only way I can really review this flick. Good luck trying to market this opening weekend.

MoonLight - Well you get a great show not rooted in cops, lawyers, crime scene investigation, dancing or singing and guess what. 1 season and your done. Too bad. Alex O'Loughlin is great as the lead Vamp. He adds another dimension to the legend of the vampire. I remember Sophia Myles from a great episode of the revived Doctor Who The Girl in the Fireplace & the classic Underworld movies, and my my is she good here. My favorite character however is Jason Dohring's Josef. He's Nicks best freind, a vampire, and really enjoying the eternal life thing. It's pretty impressive a vampire show can stand out on it's own after the buffy/angel run, but moonlight did it. Not once did I think about those (great) shows while watching the Moonlight pilot. It's that good. The action scenes were well done and finally vampires were shown as bad asses like the books I've read. My sister almost weeped when she got the news it was cancelled. I told her to get used to it. I've seen some excellent shows get axed that make you wonder what is television all about these days? Farscape, Arrested Development, Angel....so many shows killed before their time. But hey, Smallville, which I think is a insult to fans of the superman legacy, will have gotten 8 seasons to tell it's dull repetitive story (C'mon.....It's clark n Lois, not Clark n Lana. 7 seasons on that junk? And really, so what if Lex knows CLarks Season, Clark could take him some place where they would NEVER find the body......sorry, I'm bitching) because it's on the right network to do so. I think the producers of Moonlight should have gotten a green light for the show on another network but I know Joel Silver (who must be feeling the pain after speed racer's take) thought he had the Jerry Bruckheimer touch. Moonlight is better served on the sci fi channel or the CW...even FOX. I hope it does find an audiance and can be revived before the cast makes other arrangements. I'd rush Season 1 on DVD as fast as posible. Great show, and big props to the writers n producers for making vampires interesting again!

Norbit - When your rich n Hollywood powerful youcan do just about anything you want. Norbit is a classic example of this. The Murphy Brothers took idea number #456 and made a movie on it. It's light hearted and at time funny, but overall you can see that this movie is like one of the filler songs on a great album. Compared to the better Eddie Murphy movies, this one is just a paycheck. In the lines of brothers who have to dress up as big black women no one does it like Eddie he seems to have both gender sttributes and mannerisms down to a tee. I'm sure overweight african american women didn't like what was on display here, especially when the total contrast is cute cream colored ultra petite Thandie Newton as the 'girl that should have been'. OVerall a worthy rental. The parts when they show Norbit's childhood are so sweet (young norbit and his orphan soulmate sweetheart even pooped together...awwwww) that you kind of wonder what would a full fledge children's movie be like directed by Eddie Murphy.

the sentinel - About as good as average movies get. Jack Bauer, the falling down / wallstreet dude, a credible Eva Longoria Parker and some more nutjobs who want to take out the president. Good pace, nice plot and another one of those action star vehicles for a guy who should probally be playing someone's dad in flicks. Good movie.

The L Word - Got Seasons 1 - 5 asa birthday gift from a freind. It's the gift that keeps on giving.

The Sopranos (complete series) - It's the kind of show that will be required reading for film and television students and writers. The remarkable thing about the Sopranos is that it makes unlikable people likable. I'm not going to lie, I'm quite satisfied with the way the show ended. I liked being able to look thru the hidden camera into the lives of these fictional mob folks. The Sopranos was very much a show about family as well as 'the business'. Every character in the show had deep moral flaws, and the majority of the female characters were masochistic animals and the men sociopaths. The children are spoiled and ungrateful, and when they become aware of what their family represents, just like mom they turn the other cheek. Fascinating stuff because despite these ugly characters you can't take your eye's away from them. I know a lot of people looked forward to seeing who was going to be wacked next. For me it was everything that happened in between the wacking that kept my glued. There was a balance in the story vs the violence which I liked. Also I liked the realistic way they portrayed the whole mob and the money they earned. Sometimes these guys are ‘check to check’ too. The wise guys in this flick are like the one’s in Ghostdog, way of the samuri. They aren’t as rich as you think, and everyone is capable of bad mistakes at a moment’s notice. These are really screwed up people trying to find a balance in life predicated my murder and loss (SO many funerals). The guest characters and new cast additions that were introduced over the seasons were so good. My goodness. Annabella Sciorra (damn did she look yummy), Alla Kliouka Schaffer, Julianna Margulies, Steve Buscemi….the list goes on and on. These people all acted their asses off. The show would never work without James Gandolfini & Edie Falco. These 2 actors bring a rare something to a tv series. They know how to play 2 faced characters so well. Just like the rest of the cast, it was never what they said, it was always what they do that defines who they are. Lorraine Bracco’s Dr Melfi was so fascinated about Tony Soprano and is dual life that it took all 6 season to realize just how twisted that was. To make a long review short, if you haven’t seen the Sopranos, your lucky because you are in a position to go out and get all 6 seasons and be entertained on a level you won’t see again for some time. A truly remarkable and amazing show. I hope they end up doing a movie.

The Matador - As you can see I'm catching up on flicks that have been in my 'to watch' list. I liked this movie a lot. Of course I get wet for just about any assassin flick, but it's the one like these which offer more than just a psycho for hire that end up being the most interesting. Like Gross Point Blank you meet an assassin who's on his last roll. Peirce Bronson should have gotten a nomination for this role. It's so good and understated that you don't think of anything else he's been in, and he's been in some biggy's (007, Thomas crown affair). I like movies were the characters are honest while the story can be dishonest. The character stays the same while the story changes around them. Nice. In other words The Matador is more of a character study. In fact, you really only see them main 3 characters the whole movie, with the fourth dropping in for about 2 minutes about 3 times during the movie. Greg Kinnear, who I never really noticed before this movie, is really good as the ‘average guy’. He has as sweet wife, a decent job, a 14 year old marriage that seems to be going great. Behind it is a tragedy and without spoiling anything, lets just say I think that the movie does a great job showing what people are capable of doing given the right circumstances. Hope Davis is really good too. Her character adjusts to the new ‘friend’ in her husband’s life in a way that was kind of unexpected. I think the Matador is almost like a play on screen. Don’t expect shoot outs and high tech gadgetry. It’s not trying to be that. It’s an acting ensemble, and a movie more about friendship than anything else. Peirce Bronson does a great job of creating a character that you believe from beginning to the end, and the supporting cast does a great job in keeping everything honest and interesting. No cheap tricks. Great flick.

HELLBOY 2 - Almost forgot to review this one. That's all I have to say about it. Well.....I have to mention Selma Blair is such a hot looking broken girl. What a shit flick. Don't waste your cash. Get some tracks off Itunes instead. First one had promise, but they should let this series die now.

The Incredible Hulk - I bet this one was a marvel achievement in editing. From what I understand there was a lot of re-writes and hours of unused footage thanks to Edward Norton's hands in the script and direction. Still though it was a good movie. The Hulk finally has someone to go up against who can equal him in strength, even if it's just a human with hulk sickness. Some great homage parts to the old tv show, and Banner on the run was also nice. The final battle could have been much better to me. A simple fist fight and behind the back choke hold just doesn't do it when you know all the 'incredible' things these creatures can do. Hulk was dummied down as a character as well, where was the growing rage? Part of the fun with the Hulk is that you ultimately know he's the ULTIMATE super hero. He's basically unstoppable. The more pissed he gets the stronger he gets. For the sake of the 'redo' movie they toned this down I guess to make the character more believable. Pity. Overall a good flick, I hope they do another one with a better script.

tv notes.......11/12/08

sarah connor chronicles - almost halfway in. they got lucky and got and season extension for a ful on 22 episodes. lets hope they get the 2nd part of the season back on track. John Connor's character is so bad that I'm rooting for the terminaltors to take him out, maybe sarah could have another kid or something.

supernatural - hmy #1 show so far. Just gets better and better

dexter - so far so good.

smallville - its been better in some spots, but i fear lana will be back and you know where the show goes after that. stuck on stupid.

Life, Fringe and Sanctuary look worth getting into.

crank - cool silly flick. The transporter dude, playing a hitman for the mob, is injected with a drug which will kill him if his heart rate drops. He must remain active and doped up in order to survive. He goes on the trail to find a cure and in doing so pays visits to those responsible for his shitty condition. It is shot in that Snatch, Shaun of the Dead type style...quick cuts, fast edits. So fast you'll have a hard time falling asleep to this at least. Decent flick, will keep you entertained and it'll be over before you know it.

no country for old men - Best Coens flick since Fargo for me. A dark even simple tale about violence brought on because of a large amount of money. THe scary man directly attached to finding the 'found' money is one of the best movie psychopaths to come along in awhile. It's not how he kills, which can get creative. It's the fact he'll do it in whim with absolutely no remorse. Much like what todays society is becoming. Violence is the star of the movie, and it goes to show that it is violence, not language, which has shaped this world to what it is now. Great flick, great cast, great direction, great script and exceptional photography. Don't just see it, own it.

ratatouille - Best way to sum this one up. Extremely cute. Rats in reality are icky. I use to feed frozen rats to my pet boa constrictor (he refused pizza) and never thought you could make a positive movie with a rat as your lead. Hollywood man. See it with the kids.

Sarah Conner Chronicles - I have to mention this short run television series that ran on Fox because it should get props. They took the whole Terminator concept and gave the audience a whole new series of directions where it could go. The possibilities are endless. Needless to say great shows like these can barely last 1 season thanks to the general dum dum state of Americans and Entertainment (Are you American Idoling a Dancing Star Smarter than a 5th grader...), give people too many complex plot lines to follow and forget it. Battlestar Galactica is lucky it got the season it did. I do hope the Sarah Connor Chronicles come back. Lena Headey as Sarah Conner is hot, sexy, dangerous, motivated and extreme MILF property. Thomas Dekker is the first cool John Connor they have had in the Terminator series. Summer Glau is Summer Glau. Impressive job selling the Fembot terminator thang. She can be adorable one scene and dangerous the next. Great acting job by the cast. What's another bonus is the great Richard T. Jones as the cop who's slowly learning that there is a day of reckoning coming, and THEY are among us. Brian Austin Green is great as Greece, the man from the future who hates terminators, even when they come all cute like Summer. THe ballet scene in one of the later episodes was just amazing. The look on Green's face was priceless as he watched a machine appreciate a human art form. Great show, I really hope it comes back for a full season.

the mist - great movie, great ending. not your typical science fiction. more of a statement on the direction our society might go if the system (s) continue to serve themselves. Doesn't take much to be dragged back into the dark ages with the feeling of all hope lost. The creatures in the myst are not really the focus, it's actually the nature of man. Great flick! Nicely directed too. Instant classic!

beowulf - how this flick got a pg-13 rating is beyond me. I know it's animated but damn. Some of the things they were doing were pretty graphic......and cool. The story is told in such a way I think you'll get way more creative than you have to in figuring out what's going to happen. It's beyond simple in story. I guess it would not be practical to have real people in this movie, but not a far stretch. It's kind of like Final Fantasy -the spirits within-, something that could be basically done shot with real people on real sets or green screen. Overall I enjoyed it.

The Forbidden Kingdom - I thought this was going to suck seeing it was one of those west east partnership flicks. It's actually be great flick, in fact I think the target audiance (kids & teens) are going to enjoy watching Master Li & Master Chan in action. The story is ridiculous of course, but so is Star Wars. You have 2 legends on the screen doing what they do best, and their lines aren't bad either.

Doctor Who : Silence in the library / Forest of the Dead - Holy natural shit! All I can say is Steven Moffatt is really really good. Writing for Doctor Who is not easy at all. There is a balence that must maintained, especially given the shows historycombined with a new audiance. I'm looking forward to Steven Moffatt's run as producer for Doctor Who. I have to give props to Russel T Davies for letting outside writers like Moffatt shine. What a great 2 part story Silence in the library / Forest of the Dead was. Impressive.

Doctor Who : Midnight - Wow, another great Doctor Episode. Coming after the 2 parter library / forest, Midnight, being a Russel T Davies script, had 'filler' stamped all over it in the early previews. Turns out to be a great piece of sci-fi. An un-named alien threat that scares the shit out of the Doctor. At the end of the episode, Tennant's reaction to Donna as she unknowingly re-enacts the aliens method of 'becoming' was so cool. The Doctor can be scared out of his wits, and there are things in the universe that are more alien than the Doctor. I'm in geek heaven this season. I just hope the remaining 3 episodes close things with the same kind of high quailty entertainment. Russel's writing can get a little to nutty, but much love to the cat for casting lots of non thugged out non stereotypical proper english speaking african americans. You have no idea how refreshing this is :-)

Zombie Strippers - Funny shit. THat's the best way to sum this nutty movie up. You got Robert Englund, Jenna Jameson andRoxy Saint in a movie about Zombie Stippers. What mkore can you ask for? Well probally a whole lot, but don't let that get in the way of a gross out goofy flick which actually looked to my eyes to have decent productions values. Jenna Jameson was never really my kind of porn star, but it's nice to see her strech out here......really. I never thought of pool balls as weapons before..

Batman: Gotham Knights - Overall pretty average. Something that should have been shown on Cartoon Network or something like that, then released to the public. It's more of a meditation on the Batman mythology. Don't expect fireworks. Animatrix did a much better job at this sort of thing.

Frontiers - The very definition of a fucked up something. Only thing is that it's a cool fucked up. I won't even try to describe. Just think along the lines of Hostel, except this time with a real story and characters. Pretty much sums it up. And remember kids, it's rated R for a reason!

Vantage Point - This film wasn't reviewed very well. Afrer watching it I don't know why it got a 35% of rotten tomatoes, but then again there's a lot of stuff on there that gets 80% and better that I think is meh or junk. I enjoyed the flick. I takes a terrorist attack combined with the assination of the American President in Spain, and replays the same situtation that happened from different character perspectives. Like I said, I was entertained. Check it out. One thing about having Forrest Whitikar and Dennis Quiad in the same film, your going to get some of the oddest facial expressions from these guys. Never fails.

Doctor Who : The Stolen Earth / Journey's End - Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the 2 parter, but then again I enjoy Doctor Who no matter how it's presented becuase I'm a hardcore fan. THe Stolen Earth build up was very nice......and then came part 2. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. I can see non hardcore fans having a problem taking Doctor Who seriously because people who watch this show are very bright, and considering the other well written sci fi that's out there (farscape, battlestar galactica, supernatural, Lexx, Sarah Conner Chronicles ect), when Doctor Who becomes camp & silly it just doesn't do it justice. You can't please everyone, but that's what was attempted in the last episode. My main gripe is the scope of these season finale episodes. The build up is perfect, but then the payoff becomes camp and silly. When the Master described the time war in last season's episode it was serious, epic, bloody....to the point where he was afraid to face the Daleks. None of these episodes that have ties to the Time War or Time Lords have that depth to it. The 20 second trailer to journey's end with Davros giving a speech that scared the shit out of my youngest nephew (and gave me geek chills), ***spoilers follow*****was completely wiped away with one of the silliest episodes of Doctor Who I've seen so far. In the middle of an elite Dalek task force on board a Dalek battle cruiser with Davors as your host, you have everyone laughing and smiling while pushing Daleks aside like shopping carts. You have the earth being 'towed' by the Tardis across the universe while everyone is cheezing it up. No joke. The smiling happy Doctor and his chippy companions in the middle of supposedly the greatest threat against the universe since the time war itself, having a fun time. And of course Rose Tyler (who just keeps on coming back) even gets her own special boy toy Doc and Catherine Tate's Donna Noble, the best Doctor Who companion to come around since Sarah Jane Smith, is reduced to a reset button which totally diminishes her contribution to Doctor Who. She deserved better, what a great performance she gave this season. Doctor Who for 2008.......Great season but as usual, lukewarm season finale. I look forward to Steven Moffatt's term as head cheese in 2010.

Knocked Up - You know, I expected this movie to be a lot more than what it was. Overall a cute movie about unplanned pregnancy due to a one night stand (with a lot of liquor involved), and the notion that maybe an unborn fetus can bring to people together who would never ever get together under normal circumstances. In reality you’ll forget as soon as it’s over, which was strange cuz I really enjoyed the director / writer’s last flick Superbad. Katherine Heigl, who I haven’t seen since Under Seige 2 (boy has she grown up into a hot chick), is good as the surprise mother to be. Seth Rogen was also good as the slacking weed boy who becomes a father in a flash. The movie doesn’t really have an edge so for those of you who like movies where nothing really bad ever happens to anyone you’ll enjoy this flick.

kiss kiss bang bang - nice enough movie. Robert Downey Jr (a guy who laughs at due process) is his normal self, and Val Kilmar is his gay private detective freind in a murder mystery flick. Not bad, I had low expectations even though it was Shane Black scripted. Michelle Monaghan was very nice to look at for 90 minutes, small town girl with big dreams in hollywood. I won't give any of the plot away since it is a guess who did it. Worth a rental.

Lucky Number Slevin - Been on a roll lately with good movies that haven't wasted my MF time. This was nice. I won't spoil it by going over the plot cuz it's meant to be enjoyed as you watch. Everybody is good in this flick, Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, Ben Kinglsey, Stanley Tucci, great understated performances. Basically about a case of mistaken identity. Also good direction by Paul McGuigan. Check it out.

Hancock - Well, it had a great concept. I don't think they had any idea of what to do with this. It's a shame. Great cast. Needed a real villian and more of a backstory. The Trailer basically shows all the good parts. Nice to see Jason Bateman again. No one does reactions like he does to crazy situations.

Wanted - Cool action scenes. Dum story. About as average as you can get. Like Hancock, if you've seen the trailer you've seen the movie. You will figure out 'the twist' 15 minutes into the flick, which makes the movie dum as a second coat of paint (RIP George Carlin), which is a shame cuz the money they spend on these average ass flicks could send thousands of young minds to college. Oh well.

Iron Man - I wish this flick was better. There were parts of it that were a lot of fun to see, like the first time he gets his smack on with the red suit. But it's mostly a drama on how a rich womanizing genious built a metal suit capable of the destruction power of a small army combined with jet speed flight. The generic 'villian' was more of a afterthought thrown in. I really do hate when they take you favorite comic book hero and water him down in order to create 'drama' with the action sequences. You'll see what I mean with the climatic final 'battle'. One of the most boring action sequences I've ever see in a major budget comic book movie. Rent it, cuz I doubt you'll need to see this one again after your initial viewing. Hugely overrated.

Zodiac - Ok, obviously David Fincher is one of the great directors of my time. But honestly after this movie was over I asked myself why in the hell did i need to see this. Its as vague as a movie can get. If you like your flicks long, drawn out with a shitty ending, then this one's for you. Great cast though.

Taken - I saw this one while in Europe. In watching this movie I think I came twice. My kind of action movie. I get tired of these pussy wimpy pg-13 action flicks. Case in point, I just saw the trailer for Max Payne, which is a movie based on a extremely violent cool video game series. Everything looks like it might add up to something good until you get the "rated pg-13" graphic at the end of the trailer. NO matter how good, violent & risky they try to make it the final audience they are shooting for is a 13 year old boy or girl. Sounds silly doesn't it? Rarely does it pan out (the Bourne series is the only thing to come in mind, but guns aren't used much in those flicks), and it makes for a forgettable experience. Taken was inspiring. I had no idea Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson) had it in him to pull off such a physical role. THe plot is so simple a goldfish could follow it. Scum kidnaps Qui-Gon's daughter. Bad move cuz the daughter's dad is a retired CIA badass. Once the kidnapping takes place you have an hour and 15 minutes of testosterone up their on the screen as Qui-Gon goes after the men who took his daughter. He tried to warn them that he's a pliers and blow torch kind of guy, but they never listen. You can tell this movie was not american made by the type of violence it uses. This guy will inflict pain of take the life aof anyone who stands in his way, and for the most part you can't blame him considering his situation. THe violence is the star of the movie, no doubt. It's choreographed in a way where you can tell whats happening, and the fight scenes scream 'take your opponent out as fast as possible'. A joy to watch. Buy the DVD when it comes out. It moves so fast that you'll have no problem with repeat viewings. Oh yeah, there's a supporting cast, the xmen/bond girl plays Qui-Gon's ex wife and that guy thats always the villian or dickhead in movies or tv shows...he got a t-1000 shiv thru his skull in terminator 2.....they are all right for the 5 minutes of screen time they have. Make no mistake, this is a "see the good guy punish the bad buys" type of flick.Liam.....respect man. Respect.

30 days of night - ONe of those what if movies. Vampires figure out there's a place on the earth where it is dark for 30 days. Luckily for them there's a decent buffet of dum humans who remain there to live it out. Pass the season salt for the vampires. PRetty decent, and r rated for gore. Worth a rental.

pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3 - just got around to seeing the sequels. Was never in a hurry to watch them. NOt as bad as I thought they might be. Who ever is responsible for turning VIKTOR! from UNDERWORLD into Davey Jones deserves an act of creation award. Effects that were indeed special and show given the proper budget, there is nothing you cannot create an illusion for in hollywood. Oh, the movies themselves were entertaining. Nothing spectacular, but5 entertaining. I imagine they must really be a sight to behold on blu ray. THey have room to do a 4th installment and with all the money they made someone is pro bally proofing the script right now.

war - What a waste of a living legend and that cool transporter dude. Nuff said.

CLoverfeild - I watched this a couple times. I Didn't see it until after it's theatrical run. Glad I didn't see it in the theater , it would have drove me nuts. The Big screen is for Big static images. For a dvd release CLoverfield is perfect. On a good audio system your in for a treat. All the needed story elements are their. Monster....girl who needs rescuing ...whipped guy who will walk right thru a 20 story monster to get his girl, ect ect. The real star of the movie is the Monster, who makes a cameo appearance or two in the flick. THing is it's actually better you don't see it up close and personal for most of the film. It works just right the way they did it up Blair Witch Project style. The camera dude does a good job showing you what's going on. Yeah they give a lot of leeway when it comes to where your going to allowed to hold a video camera, but this is a movie. OVerall I'd have to say Cloverfield was a lot of fun and I'll pro bally be watching a few more times this year. The monster is awesome, and so is his living dandruff. Instant Classic.

i am legend - Good flick. Impressed with Will Smith, who can choose some shift roles for a guy who can open I AM LEGEND to 30 million opening weekend. Do you know how hard it is to make money with sci-fi in the United States, especially 'lone character for most the flick' who's not Tom Hanks. THe book this is based on is completely different, but they did it in a good way. Especially if you catch the alternative ending on the dvd release. Much better. Overall I'm impressed with the movie and the direction (Francis Lawrence - Constantine ...please make a sequel), and I look forward to the directors future work.

DoOm - Your standard video game to movie flick. Take a great premise, f#%k it up by changing it , add video game age director and WhAm! From what I remember from Playing Doom you had floating brains, Hellspawn, evil ghosts.....where did they go? Why mess things up with another virus / dna plot. WIth movies like Predator which show you how to put bad ass video game type soldiers on the screen, there's no excuse for the weak crew they had in this flick. Didn't like the Marines squad and I didn't like where they took the Rock's character. I did like the sequence out of the game in the last 15 minutes or so. Pretty cool. That's about it though. One of those flicks you watch when you have nothing else better to do.

untraceable - wow, I've been on a role. Some pretty good flicks lately. Untraceable has to do with a sick f#$k who likes to post murders online. The more people who check out the site, the quicker the victim is killed. Diane Lane, who is up in my list of favorite actresses, plays a cyber crime fbi agent who is tipped on the maniac and chaos ensues. Well paced, well acted and nicely shot. It's se7en without all the piled on dark beauty, and it does speak truthfully about todays internet (it is a cesspool). It also has some nice geek talk for us computer nerdz. If you have a soft spot for cats n kittens you'll want to skip the intro. I'm a big cat lover so that tugged at my heart strings, I hate seeing little munchkins like that get......well I won't spoil it. Great movie, check it out.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull - As we tech nerds like to say...'meh'. The best thing about the 4th indy is the return of Marian (Karen Allen). The woman possesses a smile that lights up the screen. The minute Indy reveals his feelings to her, she glows for the remainder of the film. It's really sweet, and is a nice way to close out the series. Everything else that happens in the movie is like watching a healthy 65 year old man try to run a 15 mile marathon. Eventually he'll get there, but you know there's no joy in watching him trying. They did their best with what they had. The action seemed to be slowed down. I don't get the Shia LaBeouf love, but for this movie he was ok. I guess the best way to sum up indy 4 is........rusty.

Rambo - Well I was entertained. Nice, short sweet, violent and to the point. I hope I can look half as good as these over 60 guys who get that one last movie in (Connery, Ford, Guv T-800, sly) before they retire. Sly Stone brings back his Rambo character and doesn't pg-13 his way into the theaters. You get human body torn in a variety of ways, you know like in real combat. You get a fictional story that is rooted on reality in some hell hole that humanity has forgotten about in real life. Rambo is a retired (but in top shape) badass that is cold chillin' in semi hell. Some nice people show up, want Rambo to take them further in the semi hell place on boat, and of course things go wrong. Real simple. I miss movies like this. You know like Commando, stuff like that. Not designed to go up against the Godfather or Citizen Kane, but great adult entertainment nonetheless. Check it out. Good flick.

National Treasure 2 - Nic Cage & other respected actors cashing large checks. THis made for TV type stuff goes in one eye and right out the other. You won't remember a thing about it 20 minutes after watching it. Well maybe how easy it was to hook up with a 1 on 1 with the president.

Superbad - Funny shit. If Michael Cera matures into the hollywood look he should clear a shelf for all of his best supporting oscars. He was so great as an awkward son in Arrested Development, and in Superbad he really knows how to play it normal. Some of the things he says in the film must have been ad-lib. It's rare someone so young gets how young people act. He doesn't try to act beyond his age even though he could (and is probally older than he looks). His reaction to situations is so spot on, it's the details. Look forward to his future work (heard he was good in Juno too). Jonathan Mintz is hilarious as McLOvin, and those 2 cops were a trip too. "Need backup! there's so much blood!" lol. Great flick.

Aeon Flux - I remember the freaky animated seires that was on mtv's liquid television. Really cool stuff. These days anything and everything gets turned into a movie, and so you have Aeon Flux starring the impossibly gorgoeus Charlize Theron. So fine is she that her parents must have known it at birth, and hence gave her the unique name Charlize Theron. All uber hot chicks have cool sexy names. Giselle, Gislane, ect. Anyway, the movie is pretty good. Better than I expected, but yo be honest I spent most of my viewing time in puppy love with the CHarlize. Lord knows she shouldn't be doing action movies (the chick who played the blue chick in the xmen movies would have been a better physical presence), but it was SO nice watching her try. They tried to wierd it up like the Animated series, the first half of the movie has some pretty cool sci fi gizmo's. You can tell they ran out of money after the first half of the flick and what you get after that is standard run and gun sequences. Overall a decent rental. If your a guy (or a chick that digs chicks) you'll enjoy 90 minutes of Charlize Charlizin' for sure, and on top of that a decent sci fi story to go with it.

The Dark Knight - Man was this film superhyped, but if I was Warner Brothers and I had this reel of comic book perfection sitting up waiting for release.....I'd hype the hell out of it as well. They had to know word of mouth was going to get out on Heath Ledger's portrayal of Gotham's #1 psyhco, the joker (he loved killing some soul brothers fo' real). What he did with this character is truly amazing. I didn't want him to leave the screen to be honest. This is the Joker from the comic books I’ve always wanted to see, and Heath Ledger (what a tragic loss) pulled it off in a way that truly amazed me. He was the real Joker. Insanity without any purpose other than to cause mayhem and loss with a stroke of genius thrown in. When the Joker was not on screen, you sat and waited for him to come back, and when he did you got your money’s worth double time. In fact I would say that this movie is less about Batman and more about the people in Batman and Bruce Wayne's life. Christen Bale is a great Batman / Bruce Wayne, mainly because it's his character that allows the villains and partners in his life shine. It’s not a real action movie. There's only 1 real action sequence that involves Batman in the film, where he does something so extra ordinary that the crowd reacts. For most of the movie he, along with everyone else, is trying to figure out how to deal with this force of nature called the Joker. Also especially good is Gary Oldman as Lt. James Gordon. You forget your watching Gary Oldman, who is a acting force to be reckoned with on his own (watch Romeo is Bleeding, The Professional / Leon, Dracula!). He plays the role with a balanced maturity that you would come to expect from a character who will go on to do bigger things in the batman world. Aaron Eckhart is also notable for his portrayal of Harvey Dent. Normally you are not interested in guys that look like him. Maggie Gyllenhaal was a nice upgrade from Katie Holmes, haven’t seen her since the the classic flick ‘Secretary’. Another big star of the film is Christopher Nolan and his use of the Camera. This is old school as new school for film making. The IMAX shots of Chicago are stunning. The storytelling respects the viewing audience of today as being more sophisticated. This doesn't feel like a comic book movie in any way which is great. Never has a comic book movie felt more like a real Drama than the Dark Knight. I hate the fact that directors feel the need to ‘update / soften’ or change the tone of established comic books believing audiences will be able to swallow the concepts easier. In most comic books I read there is a lot of violence and a lot of death. That’s one of the reasons why geeks like me read them. The Dark Knight did its best not to forget that, and with the death and drama you get real tension and emotional involvement. I dare you not to be fascinated with the Joker and his schemes and his ultimate psycho man crush on Batman in the Dark Knight. I hope the DVD has deleted scenes! Of course no movie is perfect. I think they could have cut out the Harvey Dent storyline and gave a more down to earth 'evil plan' to the Joker in the final half of the film. Also it is never resolved what happens to the Joker. But this is just bitching and moaning and monday morning quarterbacking. Truth is that this is a masterpiece which requires multiple viewing's, and I will seeing one more time before it leaves the theater. Great flick, the soundtrack is exceptional, and incredible performance by the late Heath Ledger.

speed racer - you know what? I liked this movie a lot. Like most people I Was geeked to see it in the theater until the trailer came out. It looked like Walt Disney used a photoshop color boost plug in and went nuts. There didn't seem to be much of a story in the trailers. So I passed on it (like most of these forgettable wonders they have been spitting out lately), and lord and behold, I was surprisingly entertained. Go look at the Rotten Tomatoes review summary here. You would think this movie was just awful from start to finish. Somebody you know is going to have this on DVD and I betcha you'll find it to be very entertaining, much to your surprise. Considering some of the Summer movies I've wasted good time on like Hancock, Wanted, Indy 4, Hellboy 2, and they all made big box office money, something that was trying to be different like Speed Racer really got shitted on pretty bad by grown ups. One thing you have to realize when critics get to typing is that they are all grown up people in body, mind and spirit. There is no more youth in them. I think thats why I enjoyed Speed Racer so much. Cuz I still have some kid in me. I still get a kick out of poory dubbed Godzilla and Gamera movies. I still get a kick out of 1960's - 1980s Doctor Who. I still enjoy the Space Giants, Johnny Sokko and his flying robot, Ultraman, 60's and 70's spiderman. And I enjoyed the hell out of the Wachowski's version of the cartoon classic Speed Racer. I think the DVD sales are going to be good for this movie, cuz a lot of people are going to see just how much critics hate being over 30 years old. This is a movie you watch with your kids and enjoy the spectacle, family values (nice choices for mom n pop......and trixie too), and green screen heaven. They even got Spritle and chim chim right :-) Only thing missing was the Mammoth Car!

Låt den rätte komma (Let the right one in) - My kind of movie. Touching & romantic in a sick twisted way. Basically an awkward young boy (oskar) becomes friends with a 12 year girl (eli) who walks around barefoot with no jacket on in the middle of the winter and only comes out at night. She's not what she seems. This Swedish made film is an instant classic. I love the fact that it doesn't try to sci-fi you to death. It's basic in its approach and it works especially well for Lina Leandersson's performance (she doesn't immediately clean up nor even tries to rush it after she does her thing...cool) and Kåre Hedebrant portrayal of just about every young boys inner struggle to try to be the bad ass you know your not. It's a simple story which moves at a nice simple pace, and if you pay close attention how the relationship with oskar develops you can clearly see that there is a repeated pattern to Eli's life. I don't know where they find child actors like this who can chew up scenes like seasoned pro's, they make some of our 'actors' look like simpletons (that big kiss scene near the end...genious). I'm sure someone here in the states will snatch up the rights and shit all over it with some pg-13 craptacular remake. Do yourself a favor and see it in it's extrodinary original form, with subtitles. Sweet sick romantic artistic film. Best I've seen in 2008 so far.

Burn after reading - Only the Coen brothers can make films like this. You know....kind of like watch it once and trip out on the strange character type of films. This time they have major acting talent in what could have been a straight to video plot. It about a couple of bumbling fitness club workers who come across what they think are cia black op documents. OF course what happens next is Coen chaos. I liked the movie, and so will you.

MUSIC REVIEWS

By request, what I've been listening too lately.......

FAVORITE SONG AS OF jun 2008 : "facination street" by the cure

Radiohead - in rainbows (what a great CD) Erykah Badu - New Amerykah, Pt. 1: 4th World War (inspiring) REM - Accelerate kate nash - made of bricks Sara Bareilles - Little Voice Mark Farina - House of OM Bob Dylan - DYLAN Gnarls_Barkley -The Odd Couple Beatles - Love Kanye West - GRaduation led zepplin - mothership BowWowWow - greatest hits WU Tang - Forever Chef Raekwon - Vatican mixtape 3 rihanna - good girl gone bad		OneRepublic - Dreaming Out Loud Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs The Long Blondes - Couples Duffy - Rockferry Leona Lewis - Spirit Portishead - Third (creepy man) Anika Moa - In Swings The Tide Panic At The Disco - Pretty Odd The Trews - No Time For Later Kate_Voegele-Dont_Look_Away Robyn - Robyn Colbie Caillat - Coco (very nice) Adele - 19 The SMithereens - Especially for You Take That - Beautiful World