Movies

Hellboy 2

This is another excellent movie that has come out during the summer of 2008. Guillermo del Toro has done it again. This is a movie worth seeing in the theaters.

Hellboy 2 starts with Dr.Bloom telling a young Hellboy the story of the Golden Army. In old times, Man was at war with the creatures of legend, such as elves. Man is winning the war through shear numbers, when the King has a Golden Army commissioned. This army never grows tired, nor has any conscience to get in the way. A crown allows the king to control the army. The army lays waste to the armies of Man. So much so, that the King feels regret over the slaughter. He signs a peace treaty with Man and splits the crown into 3 pieces: 2 to stay with the elves and 1 to go with Man. The King”s son goes into exile due to his disagreement with his father’s decision. This opening portion of the movie is shown in a style that reminds me of puppets. Very stylized. Like you would expect a fairytale told to a child to be shown.
(more…)

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

Saw this today. It is a good popcorn summer movie.  I would say a 6 out of 10.

The movie pays homage to the previous movies.  And has several strong points.  But it also has some weak ones.  Mainly in the effects department.  Obvious CGI all over the place.  Plus certain types of action that are just too wild even for the Indy-verse.  If you are an Indy fan, then definitely go see it.  It also mentions items from the Young Indiana Jones series – putting that into Canon.

I will go into more details below.  Warning.  There will be spoilers.

(more…)

It’s My Party And I’ll Die If I Want To

Awesome movie! Go to www.scotchworthy.com and order one right now – it is only $15 with $3 for shipping ($10 international). Before I even start writing, you need to get a copy. I’ll wait.

I first heard about this movie from the Drunken Zombie podcast, an award winning podcast. Nothing but praise. Then the Night of the Living Podcast, best horror podcast out there, reviewed it. Nothing but praise all the way around. I was skeptical at first. But then I got to see it. wow.

Now this is a low-budget movie. But that detracts nothing from it. This movie has everything a horror movie needs: blood, gore, violence and nudity. (I know you can have a horror movie without those elements, but where’s the fun in that?)

I do not want to go into too much detail on the plot. Since I want people to see this movie, I don’t want to risk spoiling it for you.

Did I mention it has a choose-your-own adventure option when viewing it?

Instead, check out the trailer:

I give it a 9 out of 10. This has put Scotchworthy Productions on my radar. I am looking forward to their future releases.

Never Cry Werewolf

I saw this movie on the Sci-Fi network on 5-11-08.   Like all Sci-Fi movies it did not have good special effects at all.  But that is not necessarily a bad thing.

The movie begins with a werewolf killing a registered sex offender in a small town.   Good, right?  A man moves into an old house beside a family consisting of a mother, her 16 year-old daughter and younger son.  The son befriends the newcomer in town and helps him work on his house.  The girl, Lorne or Lorna, seems creeped out a little.  She finds he has hairy palms.  insert joke here.  And makes a joke to her friend about him being a werewolf.   That night, through her brother, Kyle’s telescope she seesthe neighbor, Jarod, bring home a prostitute and kill her.  Seem familiar?  It gets better.  She takes the police over there and brings up that she knows he is a werewolf to the police.  Of course, they do not belive her and she has tipped her hand to the werewolf.  The werewolf however, has a pocket watch with an old picture of his long dead bride in it.  And she looks just like Lorna.  Jarod becomes obsessed with Lorna and wants to turn her into his mate.  Lorna and one of Kyle’s older friends go to a gun store where Redd Taylor, a down on his luck TV game hunter, is signing autographs.  While there, the werewolf and his demon dog attack the guy with Lorna.  yada yada yada.  We get to the showdown where the relunctant Redd Taylor helps Lorna take out the werewolf before midnight.  Ensuring that she and Kyle’s friend do not become a werewolf.

What we have here is a lame Fright Night ripoff.  Kevin  Sorbo plays Redd Taylor, the TV game hunter.  Basically a ripoff of the Peter Vincent played by the masterful McDowell.  the Lorna character is a melding of the Charlie and Amy characters.  Kyle’s friend is basically Evil Ed.

Now since I am a sucker for even the worst werewolf movie, I will probably rent the DVD to see if there were any scenes cut for broadcast.

Overall, I give this a 4 out of 10.

I hope this was an homage to Fright Night.  And I hope the DVD release will make it better.  Maybe after I have lived with it for a bit, I’ll like it better.

Iron Man

Saw Iron Man this weekend. Awesome. I have never been a big fan of Robert Downey Jr, but he delivers in this one. The story is faithful in spirit to the comics and tells an excellent origin story.

Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark a wealthy industrialist whose company primarily develops weapons. He gets kidnapped and made to create a weapon for a terrorist group. Instead he creates his first suit of armor and trashed them and escapes. This is not a quick part of the movie either. They really go into details here and give Tony an understanding of just what use his weapons have been put to. When he eventually gets back to the US he holds a press conference and announces to the world that Stark Industries is out of the weapons business. Obadiah Stane, Tony’s partner, clearly does not like this and convinces Tony to keep out of the limelight for a time, while he spins this in a positive direction. In seclusion at his home, Tony begins working on an improved suit. Eventually getting it right and heading back to the middle east and destroying a cache of weapons the terrorist group has. We learn that Stane was working with the terrorists to kill Tony and he has been supplying them with weapons. Stane gets ahold of Tony’s first suit of armor and creates his Iron Monger suit. Then we get a nice confrontation between Iron Man and the Iron Monger.

Pros: Robert Downey Jr.’s portrayal of Tony Stark, Pepper, Happy Hogan, Obadiah Stane, Jim Rhodes, the Iron Man armor (all versions), the action sequences

Cons: Computer AI Jarvis. The only negative aspect of this movie. Jarvis is not a flesh and blood servant, but an AI construct.

I can say this movie gets a rating of 8.5 out of 10. To put this in perspective, Spider-Man gets a 9 out of 10, Spider-Man 2 gets a 9.5 and Spider-Man 3 gets a 5. X-Men 1 gets a 7, X-Men 2 gets a 8 and X-Men3 gets a 2.

Go see this movie now! And stay after the credits for a scene capper that helps setup a future Avengers movie.

I am really looking forward to the Incredible Hulk movie coming out June 13th.