Edge of Darkness
I’ve come to the conclusion that Mel Gibson and violence are never without each other in movies. Now typically when you see the word action as part of a movie genre, you assume that there will be a bit of blood, people getting shot and a lot of fighting. Having followed Mel through his years as Mad Max to his direction of The Passion and We Were Soldiers, I have learnt to expect a harsher... [Read more]
The Lovely Bones
A girl dies by the hands of a serial killer who lives next door to her house. We are shown the aftermath of this tragedy through the ghostly eyes of that little girl herself as she observes life moving on without her in it. Fans of the book by Alice Sebold will absolutely hate this movie and demand the firstborn of Peter Jackson for sacrifice. Going into The Lovely Bones I had no idea what... [Read more]
The Book of Eli
When you go in to see The Book of Eli you probably will do so with an empty slate, unless you have dug up the plot and secrets from an online source or big mouthed friend. The trailers don’t give us much, we just know there is a book and Denzel Washington cutting down bad guys on a barren landscape. The draw for this movie as opposed to my article on A-list actors not filling seats, is... [Read more]
Daybreakers
It always feels good to see writers shoot for a different twist to the over-saturated vampire genre. 2009 while being a positive year for movies in general, was also a bad year for monster movies as the popularity of the Twilight series spawned a ton of badly written scripts in the form of would-be vampire flicks. As a fan myself of the classic novels and the movies that followed –... [Read more]
Blood and Bone
Straight to DVD action movies all have a common theme that the people who rent/purchase them accept over the outsiders that scoff at them. The theme that I am referring to is the “action over everything else” mainstay. Steven Seagal and Jean Claude Van Damme made a mint from these films in the early 90s and a small but dedicated fan-base (myself included) continue to support them.... [Read more]
Brothers (2009)
Brothers is the 2nd War themed movie of 2009 to emphasize the human psyche over guts and glory. Where Mel Gibson’s We Were Soldiers faltered at bringing home the sense of loss and devastation that the wives and mothers endure during wartime, Jim Sheridan nails it by keeping it personal in this film. There are no glorious shootouts, or supermen taking out hundreds with a pistol through... [Read more]
Ninja Assassin
Do you like Ninjas? Do you like kickass choreography, ninja magic and shredded karateka performing the stunts in concert? Then you just might like Ninja Assassin, the latest kickback to the 80s after skinny jeans, embarrassing spandex clothing and forgettable music… okay I kid, I kid. Ninja Assassin reminded me of the old Sho Kosugi movies like Pray for Death, Nine Deaths of a Ninja and... [Read more]
Where the Wild Things Are
With probably one of the most unique and intoxicating soundtracks combined with a bizarre story and excellent voice acting, Where the Wild Things Are will easily become a classic. Though I found Max (Max Records) to be an impossibly spoilt little brat at the beginning, the kid grew on me and when he finally started interacting with his furry, imaginary buddies I began to really like him.... [Read more]
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Like it’s name, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford will be misunderstood as being too long, too historical or too boring. If you ever read a review that uses the word boring to completely discredit a movie without any explanations why, you should probably stop reading. What I saw in this movie, was a masterpiece of excellent acting, stunning visuals and incredible... [Read more]
M.Butterfly (1993)
Probably one of the most beautiful tragedies I have ever witnessed on the silver screen, M. Butterfly is a story about one Rene Gallimard (Jeremy Irons), who is an accountant turned diplomat that falls madly in love with a Chinese Opera singer Song Liling (John Lone). The opera singer remains mostly unnamed throughout the story, so for the sake of this review, lets call her Butterfly. The... [Read more]
The Twilight Samurai (2002)
Everybody loves Samurai, we associate them with anime action heroes, Tom Cruise and cool swords. Due to this, we have Western, chubby, couch potatoes referring to themselves as modern day samurai as they admire the aluminum katana replica hanging on their walls. If push came to shove the blade would be out, they would take a stance and cut through their enemy the way the old school samurai... [Read more]
Deadgirl (2008)
I would liken Deadgirl to a modern, more dynamic version of 1986′s Rob Reiner classic Stand by Me. It holds the parallels of teenage bonding, acceptance and a dead body. Shiloh Fernandez and Noah Segan play the parts of troubled teenagers Rickie and J.T. as they tackle the problems of peer pressure, school and their friendship. Like Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain there is an element... [Read more]
