Expendables

Imagine all your favorite action movie heroes piled together in  one  dubious debacle; yup, Schwartenegger,  Stallone, Statham, Couture, Crews, Li, Lundgren, Willis,  myriad others all cast as  buds from previous  mercenary follies together  and reunited once again. What else could they do  but bond and blow shit up?  There were a few choice  moments of subtle hilarity  and humor throughout,  but I don’t see this testosterone party appearing as a big screen version2.

Must be seen on big screen?	No, but entertaining for action flick freaks
wait for DVD or rental?	If your money’s tight, yes	many low light scenes will get rewound  & reviewed for believability
OK for your elementary school child?	OMG NO	graphic violence
OK for your child  14 or under?	Not when mine were 14, no	fully deserved its “R” rating
OK for Family movie night?	Yes if all 17 or older
OK to watch  it with Mom  & Dad?	Dad would like it but Mom   would  leave the room	language  and graphic violence
Comments?	great cast collection	loose plot that didn’t matter in the end

LiveJournal Tags: Expendables,action movies

Avatar returns August 27th

If you missed the second most  visual cinemagraphic event of our lifetimes the first time you skipped over Avatar, I recommend don’t miss it this time! 

I feel too that I’m seeing  recently many movies relying heavily on the "gimmick" of 3D to make make up for crappy scripts and plotless junk while looking to make a buck in markets  exploiting new technologies. Duly note  you pay a surcharge of  about $3 a ticket for 3D.  That’s pushing  the average ticket cost towards $14, unless you’re over 50 and can get your tix for the discounted Senior rate of  $8.50 without the 3D.

My friend Rick commented recently he and wife blew a $50 bill at the movies last month when they each had a drink and shared a large popcorn.  I don’t think Rick knew about asking for the Senior discount. Point there is that ticket cost are continuing to jump upwards.

Re-releasing Avatar, is clearly profit taking, but   Avatar is  worth every penny unless you have an 80 foot home theater screen and a 10,000 watt Dolby Digital sound system at home to boot. Highly recommended by TheDad for its unprecedented and stunning visual presentation.

Oh, Disney’s Fantasia was years ahead of itself too.

LiveJournal Tags: Avatar,movie reviews

Salt

  The car  wrecks are so harsh  nobody would've got up to continue  chasing the bad guy into the next collision. But I go to movies to get entertained. The story is entertaining, moves along, has  a couple  twists,  and it’s really nice to see a female lead like Jolie in this stereotypical male role.

Must see on big screen?	NO, but enjoyable	loses a little credibility with too many  not-believable over the top stunts for any one female or one male lead
wait for DVD or rental?	If money’s tight	Lack of  believability  in  stunts won’t get lost on  home theaters
OK for your elementary school child?	No	Violence
OK for your child  14 or under?	No	Graphic Violence  throughout the  movie
OK for Family movie night?	Yes	If  mature audience
OK to watch  it with Mom  & Dad?	Yes
Add to your collection?	Yes	If you collect Action thriller   genres
Comments?	Enjoyed seeing Jolie   get pasted  just a much as she kicked ass	Several really good supporting actors weren't utilized better, sad!

LiveJournal Tags: Salt,Jolie,Spy movie,action,thriller

Inception

Suspenseful Sci Fi  heist flick reminiscent of a complex visual  John La Carre novel; expect many will hate it OR  view repeatedly to understand/figure  it out

Must see on big screen?	No	Lots of nice  effects but that's not the driver here
wait for DVD?	Yes	The complexity will spurn sales & rentals
OK for your elementary school child?	No	Violence
OK for your child  14 or under?	No	Confusing reality is a major theme of the movie
OK for Family movie night?	guarded Yes	If  largely a mature audience
OK to watch  it with Mom  & Dad?	guarded Yes	If they like Sci Fi
Add to your collection?	Yes
Comments?	highly likely  to stimulate  conversation post viewing	The ending will make it more difficult  to absorb  after   only 1 viewing

LiveJournal Tags: Sci Fi,suspense,thriller,altered states,sleep,dreaming

Strategizing & Regrouping

I've been gone a while, off evaluating what to do with my writing efforts in this particular regard, while my intent never was to abandon this blog. I’m so glad to be back in full force  now!

One thing  I somehow never seemed to manage to get posted here previously is how this blog originally came into being, and that is part of my recent hiatus also; getting a few facts together from old email records for you as well as doing some new research too.

See, I  found I have a penchant for accurately rating,  reviewing,  summarizing, describing and critiquing movies quite accidentally. It all started with an e-mail distribution list to a select few friends and a hobby of going to the movies just about every Saturday of my recent adult life - for the past ten years at least. That should mean I have  about 500 some documented movie reviews, wouldn’t it? Yes.   So, my first recent  decision was to lose the legacy stuff.  You will only  find reviews from  the   most recent month and today going forward here.   My email records indicate I started writing and posting  movie reviews via   email when  the oldest of my 2 boys  was 8.  I didn't do much else for fun back in those days and  yes,  of course they went occasionally too, content depending. I wasn’t dating in the beginning, just going largely alone.  As my boys  they grew up our Saturday   movie escapades were becoming  quite  the family “thing”. 

My thought process and methodologies began to change after I had accurately picked  the Academy Awards Best Picture five years in a row; it would have been 6 in a row but I blew it on  "Crash". I did not,  still do not,  like Crash. I have yet to know or  meet  someone who says: "Dude,  let's watch Crash, it's awesome!"  Been awhile but I picked Capote  that year to win.

Eventually I would together a string of dates with the same woman and she said "Why aren't you blogging your reviews?"   I said "Blog, what is  "blog"? It was a little after that point my distribution list had enough people in it that told me they were swayed by my reviews and opinions as to which movie to see or to  spend their money on that I started this site.

So back to the email thing  and I got hammered immediately after confiding in several people that I wanted to  write for a living and was I  good enough to make money at it?

I listened to their feedback and my inner spirit both.

I was told I needed less a gimmick, but a format, something to make me stand out from other critics.  The majority of my friends told me they didn't want to read a monolog  with allusions to  bits of obfuscated references and “out there” knowledge  when reading a movie  critique,  just a quick short "should I see it or not?"  and "Is it worth the coin to go or not"?

FYI Fandango  Fan reviews follow a similar concept using only “Go” or “Don’t  go” or something very similar.

What  follows next will be  a posting of  the movie  I saw today in a format I hope you  find helpful for deciding  where to spend  your entertainment dollars.

LiveJournal Tags: Academy Awards,critic reviews,movie reviews

Pirates:The Good & The Bad

The bad news is that  neither Orlando Bloom nor sexy and sensual  Kierra Knightly opted for a four-peat of the Disney Blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean  to start filming this summer in Hawaii.
The good is my expectations for Johnny Depp not to disappoint us in what should be the last of this series of Pirate sagas.
Read more about it here: http://m.www.yahoo.com/

Related articles of Interest

• Fourth 'Pirates' to be filmed in Hawaii (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Johnny Depp Never Leaves Home (inquisitr.com)
• Johnny Depp is highest paid actor with £21m deal for next Pirates film (telegraph.co.uk)

Law Abiding Citizen

Gerard Butler's grisly 21st Century cinemagraphic version of Crime & Punishment aka Law Abiding Citizen, is far more violent than last years Academy Award winning No Country for Old Men.

It remains to be seen over time whether Butler earns respect in his corner of the sandbox shared with the likes of the Cohen brothers, Scorcese, and others,  in this his explorative foray into the flaws in our legal system. Butler is off to a good start putting a footprint in the sandbox with this visual and powerfully conflicting moral exposition exposing flaws found in  our legal system as a Law Abiding Citizen.

LAC will make you think, and stimulate conversation amongst you and your educated friends afterward, guaranteed.

This movie is not for the squeamish even though only R rated. My date fior this movie won't go out with me again  because in  her  aversion to the violence, she quipped, "If you liked that we have zero in common". I guess I'm better off.

The thing about LAC is that  while you might be put off a couple times like  I was, the basic premise and though provoking story will make you pick a moral stance.

Why does our legal system allow plea agreements with murders and felons who admit guilt  in  crimes?

The flick is thought provoking, with more than two or three scenes where you and every other viewer watching with you will jump right out of your collective seats, guaranteed.

The execution in the prison is not for any children nor the squeamish.

Crimes against children are suggested and implied without being explicitly potrayed.

I would not invite my children at 13 or under, to watch this with me.

Certainly not for squeamish adults - turns out my date kept her hands over her eyes through large portions of the movie.

You might too. I did not, but I would never relish listen to the perp's recounting of how he dismembered his family's killer's body.

Too violent for owning the DVD to watch again for me.