Nicolas Cage stars as Cris Johnson. Cris has an interesting skill. He can see the future. But not much of it. He can only see 2 minutes forward and only things that involve him. Like any of us who had such an ability would do, he’s in Vegas. He’s working as a lounge magician in a third rate casino and picking up a discreet amount of cash doing a bit of a wagering with his special abilities. Unfortunately, his uncanny ability doesn’t go unnoticed by the Feds, and they decide he’s their best bet for helping find a nuclear threat that is on U.S. soil. And that’s where our thriller really takes off.

Next is a very intriguing premise and makes for a great story. It also has an excellent cast. Cage is the perfect guy to play a character that has problems that make him slightly out of whack but deep down is a good guy. Jessica Biel makes us lick our chops as the female interest. And Julianne Moore plays the female FBI agent in a role that has a striking resemblence to her portrayal of Agent Starling in Hannibal. She’s starting to show a little age over her days of letting Dirk Diggler lay the pipe, but there’s something about a chick that is good with a gun that we like.

Here’s what you really need to know though. We have a strict no spoilers policy. Not all reviewers are so kind. And your friends at the water cooler can also ruin this movie for you. It has an ending that you will NOT see coming. But it’s an ending that will make people talk, and thus ruin half the experience for those who have not seen it yet. Do yourself a favor and check this one out as soon as you can. We give next a strong 4 stars.

Edward Norton plays Eisenheim, an accomplished magician in Vienna at the turn of the century. He learned his craft traveling “to the ends of the earth”, putting in some Eastern philosophy and other ideas into his act. Legend has it that he was first introduced to magic by a traveling magician when he was but a wee lad and soon learned he had a knack for figuring out ways to make people see what he wanted them to see. As he grew into a teenager he became friends, and a little more, with a girl far above his social standing. This is a forbidden love affair and forces eventually rip them apart and is what sendsEisenheim on his travels.

After 10 or so years have past, Eisenheim returns to Vienna and puts on one hell of a show. It gets such rave reviews that the Crown Prince decides to go see what all the commotion is about and brings along his bride to be… Sophie, the girl fromEisenheim’s past. During the show when Eisenheim asks for a volunteer from the audience “who isn’t afraid of death”, the Prince volunteers Sophie. Eisenheim recognizes Sophie immediately but she’s still in the dark about his identity, but not for long. Once they’ve established who they are and we get a little more drama added by learning that the Prince tends to be abusive towards women, we have the perfect setup for a getaway.

Enter Chief Inspector Uhl (the always excellent Paul Giamatti) who keeps an eye on Sophie for the Prince, and who also has a bit of a taste for magic. Eisenheim puts together a plan to sneak Sophie out of Vienna so that they may run off together and live happily ever after, but Uhl figures it out and tells the Prince. Of course, the Prince isn’t pleased to learn of the deception and things take a sour note.

Past this point comes a brilliantly formed plan by Eisenheim to show his displeasure with the Prince, and the process gets Uhl wrapped up in it far more then he would have liked. I can’t really speak of the story much more or I’ll risk giving too much away, but it’s all verysatisfying to watch unfold.

Yes, this is a love story, a classic tale of forbidden love where the lovers struggle to find a way to be together and damned be the consequences. Normally even a really good story like this would only get a 3 from me, but the acting and storytelling is so well done I think it deserves an extra star. Edward Norton is a first rate actor and PaulGiamatti continues to impress me with his skills. At this point I’d see anything either of these two starred in just to see them work their craft.

I highly recommend this movie on date night, you will most certainly get lucky. And if you don’t have anyone to get lucky with, give this one a shot anyway and enjoy some fine storytelling.

This is going to be a really easy movie to sum up, I’m sure you’ve all guessed the plot from the trailers anyway. Three pilots are in a top secret military program testing out some kick ass planes, when a fourth member of the team is brought in. The fourth member happens to be a quantum computer attached to an upgraded version of the same plane. Oh, do you think maybe the lead pilot might not want to be flying with a machine? “It can’t think like we do!”

Off on a training mission they go, which turns into a real mission, and EDI (the computer, Extreme Deep Invader, I’m not kidding) gets hit by lightening. Number 5 is alive! Not really, he was pretty much self aware before the bolt of energy, that just kinda messed him up a little. He has a bit of trouble landing, but is soon cleared for mission duty, and then things start going wrong.

He disobeys orders, goes rogue, blows stuff up, feels bad about it, etc. etc. etc. Seriously, do I need to tell you this stuff.

What’s important to understand about this movie is that it’s dumb, but in a fun sort of way. The special effects are surprisingly good, the number of explosions are the highest I’ve seen outside of a war movie, and the sound is great. OK, so the acting is a bit off, and the story is so predictable it’ll make you laugh. Do you think there might be a tragedy at some point? Do you think there’s a computer nerd involved? Do you think the tower is gonna get buzzed? Heck, I kept waiting for goose to show up.

Don’t take your girlfriend and/or wife to see this one, they’ll just poke fun at you every time you grin. Grab a couple of beers at the local Hooters with your buds, then hit the megaplex and enjoy the show.

And don’t forget the popcorn.

The first Blade film from 98 was kind of an experiment between Marvel and New Line. Both, were a bit hesitant and that is evident by the way Marvel and or New Line decided to list the fact that ‘Blade’ is a Marvel property by tossing in a little side text before the directors name in the credits told the story; Even if they won’t admit it. Blade 2 having been released in 2002 and comic book movies on the rise, they decided to display the Marvel name more prominently with the next one but unfortunately they still held back on the reins a bit too much for my taste. Now, we have the 2nd sequel and with the success of 2 Spidey films, 2 X-Men films, Hulk, Punisher and Daredevil there is no doubt this go round where Blade was created and how to bring him to life… Again. You will know from the first few frames of Marvel’s now famous promo trailer until the end credits roll that you are watching a living breathing comic book and just like the real thing, if you let yourself go and submerse yourself completely in the story… you will be entertained.

This being the 3rd in the series the movie does not waste time with who or what Blade is and gets right down to bidness. The story for this episode begins in the middle of a desert where some very cool looking vampire commandos bail out of a helicopter and head into an old pyramid to dig up their master where the story for the ages with this series continues; The vamps decide to dig up daddy and use his ‘pure’ blood to continue their quest to be just like Eric and walk in the light of day without fear or turning into a piece of flashpaper. You know the drill. Meanwhile back in the big city, Blade is killing vamps in a warehouse district until a few escape and he hops in his GTO to dispense a little day walker justice. They run… He catches and he slays. Yeah Yeah, hIgh Five. Everything is business as usual for our hero until the vampire clan catches the whole thing on film and somehow the video ends up on the evening news (plot point) and due to a little misunderstanding (spoiler) he gets hunted by the police.

The cops track him down; a big shootout occurs with Whistler (Kris Kristofferson), Blade and about 100 SWAT officers. Blade and Whislter deal damage, Whistler gets popped, Big KABOOM, all is lost… emotion, emotion. Blade surrenders, the cops take him into custody and start to question him. From this point there is a big jail break sequence with Whistlers daughter Abigail (Jessica Biel), who is so hot she could live on the sun and her partner Hannibal King (Ryan Reynolds) who offers so many laughs it will have you doubling over. The 2 rescuers and Blade fight it out with the cops and a group of Vamps led by fang babe Danica Talos (Parker Posie) and Vampire Goon ‘Jarko’ played by former WWE World Champ, Triple H; Who I am happy to say did not suck… as long as he didn’t say much.

The rest of movie is spent trying to find out what was released from the tomb in the desert and why so many ‘familiars’ (humans that work for vamps) are running the city and more importantly how many tight shirts we can squeeze Abigail into (rarrrrrr). I am happy to say there are many.

3 words to finish this review: Go See It. Cool action, great hotty, many chuckles, decent gore, gun play out the yang and a car chase too. AND, the return of John Doe as an added bonus. In our book that is FIVE for FIVE for 5 fangs.

This film advertises itself as being “based on a true story”, which is a lie. There wasn’t a chainsaw wielding texan who hunted down college aged kids and made trinkets from their body parts, at least not one that’s been caught. It does make for an interesting story though, and pretending it’s real makes it that much more icky.

The storyline is pretty standard. Teens pick up hitchhiker, which turns out to be a bad idea, and then proceed to do many many stupid things that get them all killed. Two things make this movie stand out from others of it’s type, R. Lee Ermey and Jessica Biel.

Ermey is best known as the drill sargent in Full Metal Jacket and it’s a real pleasure here to see him torturing the kids with his unique brand of language. Jessica Biel is best known for the TV show 7th Heaven I suppose, though I’ve never seen the show myself. From this moment forward she should be known for her fabulous body! I’m not kidding when I say she took any tension out of every scene she was in simply because we couldn’t stop looking at her tight tanktop, bare midriff, and stunning backside. We obviously weren’t the only ones and virtually every scene she’s in is lit in such a way as to show off her physique. Heck, they even found an excuse to soak her down at one point so we could see her all wet.

When the blood and violence did manage to get our attention, it was pretty good. There’s lots of body parts laying around, and the chainsaw does get some good action along with a meat clever. It wasn’t that scary though, and you pretty much know what’s happening from the very beginning as the movie lays it all out for you in the opener.

The high parts are Jessica, Ermey, and the final scene with the squad car. Those things together bring this movie up from 2 stars to 3, so if those things don’t sound interesting to you then you’ll likely find this movie a waste of time.