Classic Wednesday Continues
January 30, 2008 | Leave a Comment
This weeks selection is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Of the ten Trek movies, Khan is at the top of my list without question. Several of the others were quite good, but none match the fun factor of Khan.
FYI, we don’t particularly follow our “no spoilers” rule on these classic movie reviews, as you’ve had many many many years to see them. Though we aren’t doing a play by play either. And if you didn’t know Spock died at the end of Khan, you don’t care that Spock died at the end of Khan.
Popularity: 26% [?]
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
January 30, 2008 | 3 Comments
From hell’s heart, I stab at thee. For hate’s sake, I spit my last breath at thee. – Khan
All but the hardest core Star Trek fans were very disappointed with the first Star Trek movie, a movie with a decent story but the pacing of a glacier. Condense it down to 30 minutes, and it might have been good. As a result, there wasn’t much hope for the franchise to continue… but then the title for the second movie came out, and fans had reason to hope. Wrath? That’s gotta be action, right?! Khan? Ooohh.. from Space Seed, Khan was good!
The fans were not disappointed this time as Star Trek II turned out to be a kick ass movie, full of action, drama and more than a few surprises. To this day it’s considered the best of the Trek movies by most fans. It achieved this status by understanding what the fans wanted, and giving them exactly that.
Action. Khan is full of action sequences, and has the classic space battle between the Enterprise and the Reliant where Khan forgets that space is more than just left and right turns. There are explosions, crew members die on both ships, hulls are ripped apart by phaser fire, and nacelles are blown apart by photon torpedoes. It just rocks.
I’ve done far worse than kill you, Admiral. I’ve hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her: marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet, buried alive. Buried alive. – Khan
Drama. Trek fans like some drama too and we get that in spades. Ricardo Montalban’s Khan is a fantastic bad guy, smart, egotistical, and rather determined to get revenge. He’s a bit angry over being stranded and there’s no length he won’t go to to make Kirk pay. We also learn that Kirk has a son who doesn’t like him very much, we get Scottie upset over losing a cadet, and in the end, Spock dies. Come on, how much more drama do you need?!
Comedy. I’m a doctor not a bricklayer! Star Trek has always had humor as a core element, and while Khan was full of Wrath there were some great lines as well.
McCoy: Where are we going?
Kirk: Where they went.
McCoy: Suppose they went nowhere?
Kirk: Then this will be your big chance to get away from it all.
This isn’t the comedy fest that was Star Trek IV, but it’s got some great lines.
Over acting. Yeah, go ahead and admit it.. you love how over acted all those old episodes of Star Trek were, the slowly.. paced.. words… that.. came.. out of.. Kirk’s.. mouth when he wanted to make a point. The Wrath of Khan turns this up a notch with some fantastic over-acting by both Shatner and Montalban. Just look at Kirk in that picture. Awesome!
As a package Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is almost perfect. It’s easy to spot flaws of both a story and technical nature, but that’s true of all Sci-Fi movies, and misses the point. Khan was made for the fans, and the fans appreciated it.. and still appreciate it.
KHAAAAAAANNNNN! – Kirk
Popularity: 61% [?]
Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen
January 29, 2008 | Leave a Comment
As guys, our macho armor always has a chink in it somewhere. For some guys it might be something as small as an appreciation for minivans or a love for a good vegetarian salad. For others, might be something as huge and inexcusable as knitting or scrapbooking hobbies. In my case, it’s an addiction to TV documentaries.
Tonight I indulged myself with Secrets of Egypt’s Lost Queen. The scoop here is that Egypt once had a queen named Hatshepsut and she was one seriously bad mamma-jamma. She was more powerful than even Cleopatra had ever been. The problem was that after she was gone, her existence was systematically erased from the records and histories of Egypt and, for decades, no one could figure out why…or what had happened to the body of this once powerful female Pharoah.
I have to admit that, after having been bitten in the arse many times in the past by shows of this nature that failed miserably to deliver answers to their respective mysteries, I went into this one with low expectations. I fully expected the conclusion of the show to be something like, “Well, we gave it our best shot but it’s been 3000 years and we just can’t be sure of anything.” Fortunately, I was way wrong!
Over the 100 minute span, they do an excellent job of answering the questions that had long surrounded this mystery and, unlike lesser shows, the answers don’t smack of random speculation. If this is your cup of tea, then consider this one to be worth four full stars.
Popularity: 26% [?]
Free Movie Monday for 1/28/08
January 28, 2008 | 6 Comments
I realize that this is the same title as last weeks Free Movie Monday, but that’s because I’d gone through a time warp last week and was actually giving something away in the the future, which is now our present.. or something like that.
In any case, it’s time to give something else away. Look through the prize library for new additions and see if you want something. If you do, then post a comment to this post and as long as your comment is the first comment, you get the prize.
Normal rules apply, see the prize library for details.
Popularity: 26% [?]
King of California
January 27, 2008 | 1 Comment
King of California was a refreshing movie to watch, a movie with a solid (if simple) story and some fine acting.
Miranda (Evan Rachel Wood) is 16 years old and has been living on her own for the past two years while her father Charlie (Michael Douglas) has been in a mental institution. During this time she’s dropped out of school and been working double shifts at McDonalds to make ends meet, and has even managed to buy a car off eBay. An industrious girl for certain.
When Charlie gets out and begins acting strangely, she realizes that his release might have been a bit premature. It seems that while in the hospital Charlie found a book that details the location of a buried treasure, one that many people have looked for but never found. What he discovers is that the book is written in code, and he’s managed to break that code. OK, so your father gets out of the loony bin talking about buried treasure… the logical conclusion is that he’s still nuts, right?
Miranda doesn’t believe him in the beginning but after they find a few clues she starts to question her beliefs, and at the very least Charlie seems happy and they are having a bit of an adventure together. The presense of the gold, be it real or not isn’t the point, the adventure itself is the point.
Michael Douglas is a delight to watch, he plays the crazy old man to perfection and made me smile, a lot. He showed a great conviction that he was on the right path and that he had every right to do some of the things he was doing, and showed that if you act like you know what you’re doing people will generally let you do it. Evan Rachel Wood showed no less talent as the daughter either, the struggle with being the “responsible” one while wanting to just be a trusting child showed through on her face in every scene.
So I have to ask myself, is this a chick flick? Yeah, it is, but it’s one of the few that I feel comfortable in recommending. The relationship stuff is there but amazingly it’s not thrown in your face, it’s just there for observation. Don’t bother trying to watch this one when the guys come over for beers, but this is a good film to watch with your SO or even alone when you want to see a good example of actors embracing a story and giving it their all.
BTW, California got its name from a 16th century Spanish romance that referred to an island plentiful in gold, filled with strange beasts and inhabited by Amazon women ruled by a Queen. It’s true, look it up.
Popularity: 33% [?]
Sex and Breakfast
January 26, 2008 | 1 Comment
Kiss.. talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk talk Kiss… talk talk talk talk talk talk talk SEX (without seeing a damn thing) talk talk talk talk talk talk Credits.
Sex and Breakfast is a good example of the marketing tease, it would have been even better had the movie been unrated and had a red band trailed up on youtube. This is a 100% chick flick, and I’m honestly not sure what they hell kind of conversation you’d end up having with your date if you made the horrific mistake of watching this one together.
James (Macaulay Culkin) and Heather (Alexis Dziena) are having problems in the bedroom, basically Heather can’t get off. James blames himself, Heather gets frustrated and they end up going to a seminar for a therapist who suggests couples engage in group sex to help grow their relationships. It takes four to tango, so the other couple are Ellis (Kuno Becker) and Renee (Eliza Dushku) who are adventure seekers more than anything else, but they have their problems as well.
I was sure that the emotional baggage would be the women in this movie, but nope, it’s the guys. Heather is the horny little devil that gets everything moving, while James is an utter pansy. Also, when Renee tells Ellis (I would have sworn his name was Alice until the credits told me otherwise) that she’d like to be with another woman and he could watch and he freaks out in a negative way… totally unrealistic. Totally and completely unrealistic. I don’t discount that there’s some guys out there who actually wouldn’t want that to happen with their SO’s, but Ellis is into the group sex thing and has just expressed that he’d like to watch another couple doing it right in front of him when Renee speaks up. Nope, impossible for that to be a compatible mindset. “Oh sure hon, let’s go get a hotel room with this other couple so I can watch this guy bang you, but his wife better keep her hands off you!!” Puleeze.
OK, it’s not all bad. I do like indie/artsy flicks on occasion and can deal with a chick flick now and then, and keeping that mindset at the front of my mind the story had potential. The acting was ok, the setups were amusing and I was entertained on some level, and I knew going into this that it was gonna be a talkative movie. You just can’t have a movie that deals with a subject like this that doesn’t contain lots of people dealing with emotional issues. But dang, this thing makes a Tarantino movie seem like a silent film.
On an artsy/fartsy scale I’d rate this higher, but on our scale I’m gonna have to go to the bottom… 1 star. Guys, if your SO brings this home to watch with you on movie night.. let me know how that goes for ya.
Popularity: 100% [?]
The Game Plan
January 26, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The Game Plan is a Disney family comedy starring former professional wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Those three ingredients generally make us vomit when mixed together. When we think of words like Disney, family comedy and The Rock being mixed together we have flash backs of seeing Hulk Hogan in a tutu. Come to think of it, there’s a ballet class in this movie as well. I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.
But let’s shake it off and get down to business. So, The Rock plays Joe Kingman. Joe is the all-everything quarterback for the ficitional Boston Rebels pro football franchise. You might say that “The King”, as Kingman calls himself, is the most electrifying performer in football today. He’s also single with one of the most high tech bacheolor pds you’ll ever see. His pad also gives you some incite into the man himself as he has oversized pictures of himself all over and insists upon complete quiet whenever he appears on ESPN, which is quite often. His lifestyle is nightclubs, sports cars, money and hot models.
Now what more does he need? Well, if you’re making a Disney movie, you throw in a 8 year old girl who is so cute she’ll make you puke. Now would this be from “The King” screwing around? No, not in a Disney film, instead he has a daughter he didn’t know of by his ex-wife. Seems they had “one for the road” while divvying up the furniture or something, and she never told him. So old Joe doesn’t know he has a kid til she shows up on his door step right in the middle of the play offs.
It’s at this point that fish out of water hilarity is supposed to ensue. Have you seen the trailer? Well, it doesn’t get any better. Lots of predictable gags and a very predictable story. It’s all very family friendly, and if you have an 8 year old in the house, they will probably howl at it, which is a shame because it’ll keep you from getting some good quality sleep during this snoozer.
We almost feel sorry for The Rock. He actually does a great job with this part. He’s a natural as a jock, and playing a self centered guy like “The King” is also a a piece of cake for him as it mirrors some of his wrestling ring persona. But he also does a great job with some parts of this film that make him stretch, yet he still comes across as a natural. The problem here is the story just flat out sucks,
So the most electrifying man in sports entertainment fails to become the most electrifying on the big screen once again. The Rock can act, he has some natural gifts of charisma, timing and a big athletic body, but he has yet to land that perfect role that let’s him showcase what he can really do. We give The Game Plan 2 stars. If you have a family though, be sure to get a copy for the rugrats to watch on the headrest in the back of the minivan or SUV. Not only will it make them giggle, it’ll ensure we have no desire to tailgate you.
Popularity: 42% [?]
Rambo
January 25, 2008 | 2 Comments
Sylvester Stallone is bringing John Rambo out of retirement for one more movie. This time it’s simply called Rambo, and it’s the fourth movie in the series. Sly co-wrote and directed this installment.
When we catch up with Rambo he is still in Thailand just kind of living day to day. He has a boat which he uses to do things like round up cobras for the local shows. Meanwhile across the border in Burma there’s genocide going on with entire villages being wiped out in the most viscious manners possible. Enter some do-gooder missionaries who want to bring their religion and medicine to these villages. They need a boat ride and eventually talk John into taking them up there despite his warnings. Predictably, they get captured, and it’s up to Rambo to rescue them.
Ok, so the plot is pretty weak and predictable. The story exists only to setup one really large and long action sequence.
So, next question, can a 62 year old Stallone still pull off a believable John Rambo? Well, first off, Sly is in great shape for his age. And thanks to Grecian formula, he doesn’t look 60+ just yet. This incarnation of Rambo will use big guns when available and a bit of strategy instead of just gutting it out hand to hand against 100 men, but he can still outrun any explosion.
This is by far the most violent and graphic movie in the series. I believe Stallone intentionally went a little over the top, which is a smart business move as it keeps it from being just a lame sequel. Instead it’s a lame sequel with some of the most gruesome action shots you’ll ever see. Bodies explode as they step on mines, throats are ripped out and heads explode like ripe watermelons when shot with large caliber weapons.
We like a movie that knows exactly what it is and embraces it, that’s what is happening here. Even the radio advertising for Rambo is playing “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor”, and they do. People love a bad ass, and Rambo is still that. The audience we saw it with had quite a bit of clapping and cheering at the end. We give the movie 4 stars for being a good time. We’re glad they didn’t tone it down to a PG-13, the kids find their way in anyhow. And I confess to just sitting back enjoying myself thinking “uh oh, now you’ve pissed him off”, and then watching John Rambo do his thing.
Popularity: 61% [?]
James Bond “Quantum of Solaceâ€
January 25, 2008 | 3 Comments
Bond 22 has a real name, Quantum of Solace. Mmmm… yeah.
Locations for the new flick have been released as well with filming in Austria, Italy and South America (I guess the person who wrote up the release things South America is just one country…)
In an interesting move, this movie follows directly on to the story of Casino Royale with Bond looking for the truth about Vesper, the one night stand he had that didn’t end up so well for the girl. This is a revenge tale, which goes well with the new “edgier†Bond franchise.
No word yet on if Q will return, but we’re keeping our fingers crossed. I don’t care how edgy Bond gets, he still needs his gadgets!
Quantum of Solace opens on November 7, 2008.
BTW, that poster doesn’t appear to be official, but it’s looks good enough to post.
This news is courtesy of MediaForGuys.com
Popularity: 27% [?]
Classic Wednesday is here!
January 23, 2008 | 1 Comment
In our continuing efforts to bring you more and better stuff, we proudly introduce “Classic Wednesday,” where we take a classic Guy Movie from yesteryear and give our modern take on it. This weeks pick is the mega-blockbuster war movie, Patton. If you’ve never seen it, you’ll want to put it on your list to see despite it being nearly 38 years old. If you’re a fan of war movies and legendary leaders, you can’t miss with this one.
Popularity: 22% [?]
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