Saw VI is the 2009 incarnation of this horror film franchise. Released on October 23, 2009, it stars Tobin Bell, Costas Mandylor and Betsy Russell. Saw VI continues with Lieutenant Mark Hoffman as the secret protege of Jigsaw. Of course it was gory and of course it was dumb, but it was right on sue with the rest of the Saw movies and that's what you should expect.
Drag Me to Hell is a 2009 horror film directed by the master of horror Sam Raimi. It is about a loan officer named Christine Brown (Alison Lohman) who is cursed by a gypsey and then is tormented for 3 days before being literally dragged to hell. This movie was classically scary and a lot of fun. Its great that all movies don't have happy endings...
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Yes, its been a long time since this blog was updated so let's take one big swipe at it now. Here is a list of all movies I watched in 2009, most of them on TV (in order of watching):
I saw Terminator 2: Judgment Day on cable this weekend and it was a great flick. Of course I'd seen it before, but this was the first time I had watched a film in the franchise since watching the 2 seasons of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I liked the intricacies of the story about SkyNet which mostly seem to have been tied in with the TV series. Check out this (then) state-of-the-art special effects film the next time you can.
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First Blood is also known as Rambo: First Blood, and it kicked off a franchise and further cemented Sylvester Stallone as an action superstar for the next decade. I've reviewed this movie before so click on the tag to find the other entry. This time I want to talk about the book this movie was based on. Written in 1972 novel by David Morrell the original story had Rambo as more of a stone-cold killer and even had him being killed by his once friend Colonel Trautman. The film made Rambo more human and actually never had him kill anyone directly. By the way, back in 1982, this movie cost $14 million to make and ended up grossing $47,212,904 in the U.S. and $125,212,904 Worldwide.
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Picture of the Year 2008? Just maybe. I saw the Wrestler the other day and it was a splendid movie. Unlike other Academy Award Best Picture winners (I'm being a little presumptuous here), guys will actually want to watch it! Starring the comeback kid of 2008, Mickey Rourke, with also Ernest Miller, Marisa Tomei and Evan Rachel Wood, the Wrestler is the fictional story of 1980s superstar Randy "The Ram" Robinson and how he deals with that past life 20 years down the road, broke and broken. It is a highly intriguing story with a no-glamor look into the Independent wrestling circuit. After a heart attack, Randy must decide on whether to settle down in life (with his estranged daughter and with his lap-dancing crush) or risk it all with a 20-year rematch against his arch-rival the Ayatollah, who is know a car dealership owner. Please check it out!
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I watched this movie again on cable last week. On this viewing I noticed just how violent and furious the final fight scene between Rocky and Clubber Lang was. Rocky was berserk! "Come on, hit me!", he'd say. And then he got hit harder. A few minutes later, Rocky goes crazy and knocks Mr. T out.
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The Ringer is a 2005 comedy starring Johnny Knoxville and Katherine Heigl. In the movie, Knoxville pretends to be mentally disabled in order to compete in (and fix) the Special Olympics. This movie came under a lot of criticism when it was released as it apparently was insensitive to people with disabilities. Actually, that couldn't be further from the truth. The movie was not only funny but also respectful to the Special Olympics participants (and also starred many disabled people). Check out this funny movie when you get the chance.
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Jason X is also known as Friday the 13th Part 10. Released in 2002, we find the unkillable Jason Voorhees being cryogenically frozen, brought into space, unthawed, and let loose to reek havoc onboard a 25th century space ship (the year 2455). Does this make any sense? No. But you don't watch a Friday the 13th film for sense. You watch it for blood, guts, some nudity, and a little laughter. If you are a fan, you've probably already watched it.
I watched The House Bunny with my wife on a RedBOX rental this past week. It has pretty funny. She remarked it was sorta-like a Revenge of the Nerds for Sororities. This 2008 romantic comedy film was written by Kirsten Smith and Karen McCullah Lutz. Don't recognized their names? Well they are the screenwriters who brought us Legally Blonde. Starring Anna Faris (and with cameos from Hugh Hefner and his girls), this movie tells the tale of a Playboy bunny who gets kicked out of the mansion and becomes house-mother of a nerdy sorority. Check out Rumer Willis as one of the girls...
The Golden Age of Nick Cage as an actor? Maybe. Con Air came out in 1997 -- it also starred John Cusack and John Malkovich (as Cyrus The Virus). Its a pretty good action movie, if you can ignore Nicholas Cage's horrible fake Southern accent. On the other hand, Dave Chappelle's role as a fellow prisoner is just plain hilarious. Check it out if you get a chance.
xXx, pronounced as "triple ex" was released in 2002 and starred Vin Diesel as a modern day super spy. What makes him "modern-day"? Well that's easy -- he base jumps, snowboards, and drives fast cars! Released a year after The Fast and the Furious, this film furthered Vin Diesel's reputation as an action star.. that is, until he starred in The Pacifier. Check this movie out on cable, it is a good action movie with all the thrills you expect (and it has Samuel L. Jackson!)
I just watched Napoleon Dynamite again this past weekend and it was a hoot. As good as the first time I saw it, this story of a super nerd turned dancing machine is a pop culture gem. It seems to be playing often on MTV and Spike TV these days so be sure to catch it when you can.
[Click for Rotten Tomatoes entry]
What a bad movie! No seriously, I caught BloodRayne on cable this weekend and it was bad. I could barely stomach it. Afterward, BloodRayne 2 was on and I tried to start watching it but it was even worse. It cost about $25 million to produce but it only grossed $3,591,980 (according to Wikipedia). Starring (if you can call it that) Kristanna Loken, Ben Kingsley, Michael Madsen, and Billy Zane. The equal went direct to video and acutally had a different actress as Rayne. How sad. Basically its a vampire movie based on a video game. Not more to talk about.
I rewatched this one on TV this weekend in a Final Destination Marathon (Part 1, 2 and 3). This movie has the same premise of the original -- you cannot cheat death. When you disrupt Death's plan for you, he will come back and get you no matter what. When a young woman, Kimberly Corman (played by A. J. Cook.), stop a group of people from entering a highway on the on-ramp and thus preventing their horrific death in a pileup, the group of people is hunted down by Death one by one! Who survives and how do they get off Death's List? Well you'll have to watch it yourself, but Kimberly finally figures it out by "Only new life can defeat death."
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The question is "What is Love?". The answer is "This movie -- NOT!" A Night at the Roxbury is the 1998 big screen move for this Saturday Night Live skit. Starring Will Ferrell, Chris Kattan, and Molly Shannon, this movie is definitely goofy but fun. The story? Well its not really a story so lets not waste time talking about it. Just sit back and laugh -- don't try to understand it.
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A funny Will Ferrell movie. They are not all funny but this was certainly was. Starring Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson, André Benjamin, Maura Tierney, and Will Arnett, Semi-Pro is the story of Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell), a singer who uses his success to buy and semi-pro basketball team, the Flint Tropics, and live his dream playing basketball. A little bit of trivia -- it won the 2008 Best Sports Movie ESPY Award.
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A 2000 romantic comedy based on a true short (the real life Coyote Ugly Saloon), this film stars Piper Perabo and Tyra Banks. This movie is a little boring, unless you've actually been to a Coyote Ugly bar. In that case it can be a little sentimental. No seriously, this movie is pretty boring and sappy. Piper is a struggling singer who uses her experience at the Coyote to grow as an entertainer and find true love -- boring!
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End of Days is a action/horror movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger with Gabriel Byrne as Satan. Jericho Cane (Schwarzenegger) must save a woman named Christine York who will give birth to Satan's son during the last hour on New Year's Eve, 1999. Schwarzenegger ends up sacrificing himself to save the woman (and the world) and is reunited with his dead wife and child. Panned by critics (plot wholes anyone?), this movie is good to catch on cable.
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Sixteen Candles came out in 1984 and kicked-off a series of movies with a cast which came to be known as the Brat Pack. Starring Molly Ringwald, Michael Schoeffling and Anthony Michael Hall this movie was written and directed by John Hughes. The story surround the day of Molly Ringwald's 16th birthday and how she gets through it. Check it out and see a true 1980s classic.
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Did you catch Alexander by Oliver Stone? It did relatively well at the box office, but it was panned by some critics as too long and Colin Farrell as too bleached-blond. Anyways, this epic follows the story of Alexander the Great. I thought it was a great story. Another controversy was the length of the movie. The cuts are as follows:
[Click for Rotten Tomatoes entry - 16% Yikes]
National Lampoon's Barely Legal is a 2003 film comedy I caught on cable yesterday. It was pretty low-brow but it was entertaining. In the film, three high school students can't rent porn, so they decide to make it themselves. Hijinx ensue and in the end they learn that producing porn is a whole lot less glamorous than watching it. lol. Catch it on cable.
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If you don't mind a mindless comedy, then Little Nicky is a great film. But if you want any sort of sensible plot, this is not the film for you. Starring Adam Sandler and Harvey Keitel and Patricia Arquette, Nicky (Sandler) is Satan's good-hearted son, trying to save his dad by going on adventures on Earth.
The Day After Tomorrow is a fairly good apocalyptic science-fiction flick. The only downside is that the science behind the catastrophic effects seen in the film are nonsense. If you set that aside (which is not a small thing), this movie starring Dennis Quaid and Jake Gyllenhaal, is an fun piece of film.
Sweet Home Alabama is a 2002 romantic comedy. What more needs to be said? Oh yeah, it stars the lovely Reese Witherspoon.
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This 2005 action/adventure scifi thriller was mildly entertaining. At least it provided Jamie Foxx, Jessica Biel, Josh Lucas and Sam Shepard with gainful employment for a few months. The story is about an secret U.S. Navy Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle with artificial intelligence. Needless to say, the plane goes nuts and makes some terrifying decisions while in the air, to which Jamie Foxx et al have to save the day. Catch it on cable, maybe.
Who could forget Jurassic Park? Who knew what the word "Jurassic" meant before the movie was made (or book, for that matter)? This 1993 science fiction film directed by Steven Spielberg is based on the novel by Michael Crichton. A landmark in the use of CGI (computer-generated imagery), this film is about bringing back dinosaurs to life using their DNA stored for millions of years in Amber. Amazing concept and great film, a classic.
I caught this strange little movie, Zathura: A Space Adventure, on cable a while back. Directed by Jon Favreau, this movie (based on an illustrated Chris Van Allsburg book), is an unofficial prequel to Jumanji. Fun for the family, this film was strangely compelling, even for an adult. Check it out on TV with your kids for a good film.
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Coming out before Foxy Brown, Coffy is a 1973 film starring (also) Pam Grier. A little less known than Foxy Brown, but not necessarily less sexy or violent, Coffy is the story of a nurse turned vigilante, set out to fight organized crime in Los Angeles. Check it out if you have the opportunity.
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Do you know what? AMC -- American Movie Classics -- is a damn good cable TV channel. You can get a good education on film just by watching it. I reported earlier on some Blaxploitation films showing on AMC. Now I just finished watching a classic from a totally different genre -- the Spaghetti Western. These films were called Spaghetti Westerns because they were produced Italian studios (usually shot in Spain).
Anyways, A Fistful of Dollars is a Clint Eastwood classic from 1964 -- the first in a series of three movies known as the Dollars Trilogy(or The Man with No Name Trilogy). These three films, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly all starred Clint Eastwood and were directed by Sergio Leone. If you haven't seen this classic, please make it a priority!
[Click for Rotten Tomatoes entry - 94% amazing]
