The Brainiac

PLOT:

This outrageous Mexican horror gem opens in the 17th century, where Spanish Baron Vitelius is being sentenced to death for heresy, thanks to his reputation as a Casanova and practitioner of the black arts. Before his death, he curses the bloodlines of the Inquisitors — a curse heralded by the appearance of a comet, which Vitelius declares will mark his vengeance when it passes again. Flash forward 300 years to the swinging ’60s, where the comet does more than just appear in the sky — it slams into the Earth, releasing a brain-sucking demon with a forked tongue, which then transforms into the shape of Vitelius.

What people are saying:

“A mysterious man with magical powers (which are never explained) is burnt alive by the Spanish Inquisition, then returns 300 years later to wreak his vengeance on the descendants of the celibate clergymen who condemned him. Fast moving Mexican silliness that’s famous (and worth seeing) for the ridiculous (but kind of creepy) monster with the three foot long forked tongue.” 2 1/2 stars

“You MUST see this movie!” It’s strange. It’s hilarious. It’s an absolute must see. What are the odds that a movie known as The Brainiac would prove to be so gleefully insane?” 4 stars

“It takes itself so seriously and actually sort of works at times as a slow burning, Dracula-esque horror film. What makes the whole thing fall into B-movie hilarity is the ridiculous monster. It’s like the fly crossed with the devil. It’s so bizarre seeing this movie building up suspense and drama (and it’s heavy on the dialogue by the way) only to flush that down the toilet real quick with the costume they used. The problem is this movie falls kind of in the middle somewhere. It’s not bad in a Plan 9, let’s riff this movie kind of way. Whenever the monster isn’t on screen it’s just fairly generic (almost a bit past its time) horror b-movie. When the monster is on screen it does fall into the Plan 9 territory. But overall it is just stuck in the middle and not good, but not that bad, and definitely not that funny.” 2 1/2 stars

“It’s the kind of outrageous movie that it’s impossible to get mad at. This is a movie that’s so ridiculously goofy that, if it were to come out today, it would torn to shreds, but because it came out in a time, it’s a movie for that time. However, it is definitely good for some corny thrills on a late October night.” 4 stars

“Pretty wild Mexican horror. You can’t call it good, but it’s entertaining.” 3 stars

Trailer Thursday 7/28

It’s Trailer Thursday!!!

As we get nearer and nearer to presidential election, where it will be the vote for the lesser of two evils, I can’t help but notice how the movie Idiocracy is turning out to be a bit more of a look into our future than The Jetsons, Back to the Future franchise, etc.

Have a look at the trailer…

Batman: The Killing Joke

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Barbara Gordon as Batgirl fails to stop a robbery, but manages to stop one fleeing criminal with help from Batman. Unknown to Batgirl, the robbers’ leader Paris Franz develops a dangerous obsession with Batgirl. As Batgirl starts receiving messages from Franz, Batman shares his concerns that she is not taking the situation seriously. After Franz tricks Batgirl into finding his uncle’s dead body, Batman becomes even more concerned about Batgirl’s safety and takes her off the case. Outraged, Batgirl starts attacking Batman both verbally and physically. She eventually subdues him, shares a kiss with him, and they have sex. The next night, Batgirl tries to apologize to Batman, but he is ambushed by Franz and his men prompting Batgirl to go to his aid. When she arrives, she fights Franz and beats him, but relents from killing him. Realizing Batman was right, Batgirl retires from crime-fighting.

Sometime later, Batman investigates a murder scene with Detective Harvey Bullock and concludes that Joker, currently held at Arkham Asylum, might be behind the crime. He goes to Arkham Asylum to talk to him, only to discover that he had escaped. He then learns that Joker attacked Barbara and her father Commissioner James Gordon, shooting and permanently paralyzing Barbara in front of Gordon before kidnapping the latter. Joker takes Gordon to an amusement park and subjects him to torture, showing him photos he took of Barbara after shooting her.

While the present-day story progresses, flashbacks are used to explain Joker’s origins. It is revealed that he was an engineer who quit his job at a chemical company to become a stand-up comedian, only to fail miserably. Desperately trying to support his pregnant wife Jeannie, he agrees to guide two criminals through his former workplace at the chemical plant in order to rob a card company next door. In turn, the criminals tell him that he has to use the Red Hood’s mask and caped costume, intending to frame him. During the planning, the police inform him that Jeannie and her baby both died in a household accident. Grief-stricken, the engineer tries to withdraw from the plan, but the criminals talk him into keeping his commitment to them.

At the plant, the criminals have him don the red mask and cape. Once inside, they run into security personnel, and a shootout occurs. The criminals are gunned down and the engineer is confronted by Batman, who is investigating the disturbance. Terrified, the engineer trips and falls into the chemical plant’s waste pound, managing to escape Batman in the process, and is swept through a pipe leading to the outside. Once outside, he realizes that the chemicals have permanently bleached his skin chalk-white, stained his lips ruby-red, and dyed his hair bright green. The entire ordeal, combined with Jeannie’s death, drives him into insanity and leads him to become the Joker.

Back in the present day and after many unsuccessful attempts, Batman manages to find Gordon after Joker sends him a clue that leads him to the amusement park. He saves Gordon while the Joker retreats into the funhouse. Despite being tortured, Gordon remains sane and he demands Batman to capture Joker “by the book”. Batman follows Joker through the funhouse as Joker tries to persuade him that the world is just one big joke and thus not worth fighting for. He also states that just one bad day is enough to drive an ordinary man insane, and mocks Batman by correctly guessing that it was one bad day that drove Batman into becoming a vigilante.

Batman eventually subdues the Joker, tells him that Gordon remained sane despite everything he suffered, and concludes that Joker is alone in his madness. He then attempts to reach out to Joker, offering his help in rehabilitation in order to put an end to their everlasting fight, which Batman fears may one day result in their deaths. Joker declines, commenting it is too late for Batman to help. He then says that the situation reminds him of a joke, which he proceeds to tell. Batman starts laughing at the punch line, accompanying Joker’s maniacal laughter as the police arrive. The laughter then stops as the screen fades to black.

In a mid-credits scene, Barbara is in her wheelchair entering a secret room in her apartment. As she turns on the computers, Oracle’s logo appears on the screen

REVIEW:

Batman has been around for years and through that time he has amassed quite a few stories. One that many fans thought would never make it to film, animated or otherwise, is the intensely dark Batman: The Killing Joke. Well, this is set to be released on DVD, but tonight it was in theaters and I had the chance to check it out. Here are my thoughts.

What is this about?

Based on Alan Moore’s graphic novel. As Batman hunts for the escaped Joker, the Clown Prince of Crime attacks the Gordon family to prove a diabolical point mirroring his own fall into madness.

What did I like?

Voices carry. For those of us that grew up with Batman: The Animated Series and the series of cartoons that followed, Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill were our Batman and Joker, even though other versions attempted to take their place. Do you remember any of the others who have stepped into these roles? No, and that is why they have such a lasting legacy and were chosen to voice such an important work.

Not for kids. Much has been said about the violent, dark nature of this film. Let me tell you right now, this is most definitely NOT FOR KIDS. There is violence, dark themes, and nary a cheery scene to be found, which is the only reason this film works. I am glad they didn’t water it down to appeal to the 13 and under crowd. I can’t imagine how that would have turned out, other than horrible.

Straight out of the book. For some reason, filmmakers have a really hard time keeping with the source material. They usually make the excuse of “it works better on screen if we change this or that”. This story works so well on so many levels that the filmmakers did very little changing, except for adding a prologue, which I’ll get to shortly. On top of that, they even ripped many of the images direct from the graphic novel itself. Very nice touch! My personal favorite is when the unknown man emerges from the chemicals, takes of the red helmet and begins maniacally laughing. What other way would there be to introduce…THE JOKER?!?

What didn’t I like?

Batgirl. In an attempt to make what happens to Barbara more of a tragedy, the filmmakers decided to give us a little backstory of her as Batgirl the night before. Had this been a Batgirl movie or a Batman and Batgirl story, it would have been great, but this just felt unnecessarily tacked on. I also must mention that they had sex (offscreen). I can’t be the only one who did not feel comfortable with that! In all the Batman/Batgirl stories I’ve read, there has never been any sexual tension between them. This seemed like a substitute Catwoman tale, in my opinion.

Character design. I didn’t hate the character design, but I have a small issue. As I was sitting in the theater tonight, it hit me that this is a more adult animated tale, but the animation reminds me of those geared toward younger crowds. What could be done about this? I don’t really know, to be honest. Just a small point I felt needed to be pointed out.

Length. It’s been a few years since I last read this book, but I know that it has to have had enough material to fill up a 90 minute film (minus that horrible prologue). Maybe I was just having too much fun seeing the comic on the big screen, but I felt as if this could have been about 10-15 minutes longer, giving us a little more time with Conroy and Hamill reprising these characters that we all want to see and hear from them again.

Final verdict on Batman: The Killing Joke. It is a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, there are so many things that just blew me out of the water, faithfulness to the source material, great music, the return of Conroy and Hamill, etc. On the other hand, though, I just can’t get over the Batgirl storyline that was thrown in here. Not only was it bad, but it didn’t accomplish the goal of making us feel something more for her. They would have been better served just letting us use our personal knowledge of the character, rather than whatever this was. *SIGH* So, do I recommend this? Yes, very highly! Once you get past the Batgirl stuff, you have a great story that we all thought would never make it past the pages of the graphic novel. For that reason, if for no other, you should give it a shot! Now I can wait for them to start thinking of ways to bring Green Lantern: Darkest Night to the screen!

4 1/3 out of 5 stars

Sixteen Candles

PLOT:

Samantha’s sixteenth birthday should be memorable, but her family is so preoccupied with her older sister’s wedding that they completely forget her big day. Meanwhile, Sam tries to catch her crush’s eye.

What people are saying:

“A 80s John Hughes written film, so you know it’s hella solid in the dialogue category. Being the 1st film he directed, I thought it was great being John Hughes 1st. Their are some small side gags that would of been better left out of the movie entirely. Overall didn’t hurt the movie too much. It’s a fun, very enjoyable, and funny movie.” 3 1/2 stars

“I had seen most of the 80s Teen Flicks, but somehow never got around to this one. Probably an anti-Molly thing. Ah, foolish youth. The fact is, this is one truly funny film! Typical John Hughes stuff, funnier than The Breakfast Club, but with less meat to it. As far as the rating, I’m surprised it received a PG — the language and brief nudity would probably rate an R today. But if you can get past that issue, you’ll have a lot of fun with 16 Candles.” 4 stars

“A simple story and a well chosen cast, particularly Ringwald, prevent Sixteen Candles from being melodramatic and paces itself with plenty of humor and complexity that only a teenager can understand. Watching this film as an adult will diminish any emotional impact.” 5 stars

“Molly Ringwald has her 16th birthday but her family is so preoccupied with her older sister’s wedding that they completely forget her big day. She has a crush on the jock, but a nerd has a crush on her. She must find a way to enjoy her birthday, despite the dance where things don’t go quite as planned. A pretty typical 80’s comedy especially with John Hughes. Pretty good and pretty much typical of the 80s.” 3 stars

“John Hughes got everything right with this cute and funny comedy that defined the 80s… I have probably seen this movie 20 times and laugh at the same scenes. Molly Ringwald, who’s been in several JH films, pays a love-sick teenager whose parents forget her 16th birthday. This movie also has created alot of funny one-liners my sisters and me still use- ‘oh and they’re sooo perky!” Super funny from the great beginning all of the way to the end. And I miss John Hughes terribly, no one understood the American teenager like this guy. A little dated with the 80s clothing and hairstyles but this movie still holds its own and will make any teenager laugh today.” 5 stars

Goosebumps

PLOT:

None-too happy about moving to a small Maryland town, teen Zach Cooper finds his outlook changing after meeting the gorgeous girl next door, Hannah Stine — whose reclusive father happens to be hiding a big secret

What people are saying:

“not too scary not too boring. just the right amount of creep and scares along with the proportional amount of humor.
really likes the character of slappy the dummy and Mr. R.L. Stine and the cast of goosebumps” 4 1/2 stars

“For what it was, it was very well done. Lots of jumping around action that kids and the adults that go with them enjoy. I’ve seen better movies in this genre (Jumanji, which it has been compared to…Night at the Museum, too), but it was still good enough. Jack Black almost always a fun watch…and Odeya Rush is a beautiful young woman that teens should heat thump over). Some of the story seemed contrived and plotting often felt like ‘an afterthought,” 4 stars

“After a few years of development hell, the filmmakers decided to try and cram all of R.L. Stine’s book creations into one movie.The result is a movie overstuffed with horror things, but never scary due to its breakneck pace and lack of character development. There’s no big twist either that is also present in Goosebumps books, so it comes off as a rather frivolous affair than anything memorable.” 2 stars

“Frustrating disappointment. This film has all the elements of a great movie: good cast, good story, photography, sets, great F/X, even a Danny Elfman score! The problem is that it never “comes together”. It almost does, but ultimately it fails & becomes tedious. It could have been on a level with THE MONSTER SQUAD if only, if only, if only…” 1 star

“I grew up reading and watching goosebumps and when I heard about this film I had to take a look in to it. This film is enjoyable and everything I wanted from a move based on the horror children books, the film has a good cast, good plot, good and evil charters and in no way does this film disappoint in any way.” 4 stars

Meet the Fockers

PLOT:

Now that Greg Focker is “in” with his soon-to-be in-laws, Jack and Dina Byrnes, it looks like smooth sailing for him and his fiancée, Pam. But that’s before Pam’s parents meet Greg’s parents, Bernie and Roz Focker. The hyper-relaxed Fockers and the tightly-wound Byrneses are woefully mismatched from the start, and no matter how hard Greg and Pam try, there is just no bringing their families together.

What people are saying:

“It was okay, wouldn’t exactly say it’s terrible or great either, somewhere in the middle. Good time if you’re watching it with some family members or friends. For those who are critical about film, give it a skip.” 3 stars

“The sequel’s comedy level is what I was I expecting from its predecessor. Thanks to its original and new cast, their chemistries bring laughs equally as well more warmth; making this sequel better, despite the questionable silliness that turns into a minor plot-hole. ” 4 stars

“Proof that great actors can make terrible movies. Apparently DeNiro, Hoffman and Streistan are padding their bank accounts for old age. Stupid, predictable and unfunny.” 1 star

“I loved this whole premise, what a great cast of characters ! Love Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman’s chemistry, then throw in Barbara Streisand and you have a winner combination! I laughed til I cried through most of the movie. I highly recommend it if there is anyone left on the planet that hasn’t seen it yet.” 5 stars

“While it does contain strong hints to it’s predecessor, Meet The Fockers gets plenty of fresh humor from the addition of Hoffman and Streisand, and the content is delivered perfectly by a great cast.” 4 stars

Good Will Hunting

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Twenty-year-old Will Hunting (Matt Damon) of South Boston is a self-taught, genius-level intellect, though he works as a janitor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and spends his free time drinking with his friends, Chuckie (Ben Affleck), Billy (Cole Hauser) and Morgan (Casey Affleck). When Professor Gerald Lambeau (Stellan Skarsgård) posts a difficult mathematics problem as a challenge for his graduate students, Will solves the problem anonymously, stunning both the graduate students and Lambeau himself. As a challenge to the unknown genius, Lambeau posts an even more difficult problem. Lambeau chances upon Will solving the problem but Will flees the scene. That night at a bar, Will meets Skylar (Minnie Driver), a British student about to graduate from Harvard, who plans on attending medical school at Stanford and gives Will her phone number before leaving.

The next day, Will and his friends fight a gang at the basketball court. Police arrive and arrest Will. Lambeau visits his court appearance, and notices Will’s intellect in defending himself. He arranges for him to forgo jail time if he agrees to study mathematics under Lambeau’s supervision and participate in therapy sessions. Will tentatively agrees, but treats his first few therapists with contempt and mockery. His refusal to open up is met with staunch defiance by the various therapists, who each refuse to deal with Will further. In desperation, Lambeau calls on Dr. Sean Maguire (Robin Williams), his estranged and much more grounded college roommate, who now teaches psychology at Bunker Hill Community College. Unlike other therapists, Sean actually challenges Will’s defense mechanisms, and after a few unproductive sessions, Will begins to open up.

Will is particularly struck by Sean’s story of how he met his wife by giving up his ticket to the historic game six of the 1975 World Series, after falling in love at first sight. Sean neither regrets his decision, nor does he regret the final years of his marriage, after which his wife died of cancer. This encourages Will to build a relationship with Skylar, though he lies to her about his past and is reluctant to introduce her to his friends or show her his rundown neighborhood. Will also challenges Sean to take an objective look at his own life, since Sean cannot move on from his wife’s death.

Lambeau sets up a number of job interviews for Will, but Will scorns them by sending Chuckie as his “chief negotiator”, and by turning down a position at the National Security Agency with a scathing critique of the agency’s moral position. Skylar asks Will to move to California with her, but he refuses and tells her he is an orphan, and that his foster father physically abused him. Will breaks up with Skylar, and later storms out on Lambeau, dismissing the mathematical research he has been doing. Sean points out that Will is so adept at anticipating future failure in his interpersonal relationships that he deliberately sabotages them in order to avoid emotional pain. When Will refuses to give an honest reply about what he wants to do with his life, Sean shows him the door. Will tells Chuckie he wants to be a laborer for the rest of his life. Chuckie responds that it would be an insult to his friends for Will to waste his potential and that his fondest wish is that Will should leave to pursue something greater.

Will walks in on a heated argument between Sean and Lambeau over his potential. Sean and Will share and find out that they were both victims of child abuse. Sean helps Will to see that he is a victim of his own inner demons and to accept that it is not his fault. Sean comforts Will as he cries over twenty years of trauma. Will decides to accept one of the job offers arranged by Lambeau. Having helped Will overcome his problems, Sean reconciles with Lambeau and decides to take a sabbatical to travel the world. When Will’s friends present him with a rebuilt Chevrolet Nova for his twenty-first birthday, he decides to pass on his job offers and drive to California to reunite with Skylar. Sometime later, Chuckie goes to Will’s house to pick him up, only to find that he is not there, much to his happiness. Sean comes out of his house and finds a letter from Will in his mailbox, which, much to his pleasure, tells him that Will is going to see Skylar. During the ending credits, Will’s car is seen driving on the highway to California

REVIEW:

The other day, I was watching Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back for the gazillionth time and came across the scene with Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are shooting Good Will Hunting 2. Obviously, this was just a parody in the film, but it hit me…I have never seen the source material. So, this afternoon, I am going to sit down and watch Good Will Hunting. Let’s hope I don’t fall asleep on the couch while doing so.

What is this about?

When professors at MIT discover that an aimless young janitor working at the university is also a mathematical genius, a therapist helps the young man confront the demons that are holding him back.

What did I like?

Thrill of the Hunt(ing). For the first few years of their careers, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were seemingly joined at the hip when seen in public, partially because of the success of this film. Damon’s performance knocks it out of the park and it is no wonder that he has gone on to do so many other things. He brings to the screen intensity, drive, emotion, and a variety of other adjectives that you wouldn’t expect from a guy who, at this time, wasn’t anything more than a supporting player.

Have some class. There is a real emphasis on the class division as Damon and company come from the other side of the tracks, but most of the film takes place at M.I.T. and one of the bars they frequent is occupied with students from Harvard, not exactly the cheapest of schools. This division makes for some interesting conversations about the have and have nots…much like one can have today.

Beard. I used to joke that whenever Robin Williams would grow out his beard, we are in for some serious drama. Case in point, Birdcage (no beard), The Fischer King (beard), and August Rush (weird soul patch thingy). Sometimes this isn’t the case, though…see What Dreams May Come. Still, while Williams was known primarily as a comedic actor, it should not be ignored that he has some great dramatic chops, as well. This is one of those rare times where he gets as serious as one can be. A jokey Williams would not have fit within the scope of this film, but drama Robin, works perfectly as Damon’s therapist and confidant.

What didn’t I like?

Drive. Minnie Driver plays a very fine love interest. As an innocent, wealthy British undergrad finishing up at Harvard and getting ready to head to Stanford for her graduate studies, she is given some decent motivation for her character. My problem with her is that she isn’t given enough time for us, the audience, to become attached to her. I say this because there is obviously a connection between her and Damon, but because we don’t get much time with her as a person, it doesn’t mean much when that comes to an end. It is just an event that happens, akin to Damon’s anonymous solving of the math problems.

Hidden genius. How is it that someone with the genius of Matt Damon’s character made it through school, even if he dropped out, without being discovered? It seems to me that someone would have picked up on this. There is no reason for him to be a janitor living in a shack on the southside of Boston with his intellect. The only reason for him to not have been found out is that he may not be a strong test taker, but even then, it would still show somewhat, right?

Predictable. Don’t you just hate films that you can pretty much guess what is going to happen? Well, this is one of those, I’m afraid. Everything that happens to our main characters is telegraphed a mile away leaving the audience with everything but a surprise come film’s end. A little suspense would have been nice, at least in my opinion.

Final verdict on Good Will Hunting? For all the hype and accolades this picture receives, I thought it lived up to it. My expectation was to fall asleep in the first 30 min or so, but instead I couldn’t turn away, save for some down moments here and there. I’m sure you will have the same experience, so I very highly recommend it. Check it out!

5 out of 5 stars

Trailer Thursday 7/21

It’s Trailer Thursday!!!

As summer inches closer to an end, certain groups are giving up the last days of their vacation (football players, cheerleaders, pep squad, and marching band). So, this influenced my choice for this week, American Pie Presents: Band Camp.

Side note…I have not been to a band camp like this…but I wish I had!

Sin City: A Dame to Kill For

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

“Just Another Saturday Night”

Marv (Mickey Rourke) regains consciousness on a highway overlooking The Projects, surrounded by several dead young men and a crashed police car, and with no memory of how he got there. He retraces his steps, recalling that since it’s Saturday, he watched Nancy Callahan (Jessica Alba) dance at Kadie’s Saloon. Stepping outside, he encounters four rich frat boys burning a homeless man alive. When Marv intervenes, the leader of the frat boys shoots him in the arm, calling him “Bernini Boy,” which Marv mishears as “Bernie.” They flee; Marv follows, stealing a police car on the way, which he crashes into their car, leading to his blackout and memory loss. He follows the two surviving frat boys into The Projects, the neighborhood where he grew up. With the assistance of the deadly residents lurking in the shadows, he dispatches the frat boys. He questions the leader about being called “Bernini Boy” and learns that it is the brand of coat he is wearing. After slitting the boy’s throat, he considers his coat and realizes he can’t remember how he acquired it.

“The Long Bad Night (Part I)”

Johnny (Joseph Gordon Levitt), a cocky young gambler, arrives in Sin City and heads to Kadie’s place, where he immediately hits the jackpot on multiple slot machines. Taking a young waitress, Marcie (Julia Garner), with him as a good luck charm, he buys into the backroom poker game led by the all-powerful Senator Roark (Powers Boothe). Johnny repeatedly wins in the high-stakes game, and cleans the senator out. One other player, the corrupt police lieutenant Liebowitz (Jude Ciccolella), warns him to flee the city, but instead Johnny takes Marcie out for a night on the town. He walks her home when Roark’s goons suddenly attack him. He fights them off and tells Marcie to meet him at a hotel before he is escorted into the Senator’s waiting limousine. In payment for the humiliation he suffered at the card game, Roark takes back his money and uses a pair of pliers to break the fingers of Johnny’s playing hand. They toss him from the car, and the Senator shoots Johnny in the leg. Roark then reveals that he recognized Johnny as his illegitimate son. However, he remarks that he only considered his dead son Roark Jr. his flesh and blood. He leaves Johnny alive, preferring to let him suffer, and Johnny swears revenge.

“A Dame to Kill For”

Years before “The Big Fat Kill”, Dwight McCarthy (Josh Brolin) attempts to put his violent past behind him, working as a private detective and leading a life of complete sobriety, struggling daily to refuse his inner demons. After saving the life of Sally (Juno Temple), a hooker who is nearly murdered by her businessman lover (Ray Liotta), he receives an unexpected phone call from his former lover, Ava Lord (Eva Green), who left Dwight four years prior for a wealthy tycoon, Damien Lord (Marton Csokas). She begs him to meet her at Kadie’s saloon, and despite his embittered feelings, he agrees. When Ava arrives, she begs forgiveness for leaving him, and implies she is afraid for her life before her massive chauffeur, Manute (Dennis Haysbert), arrives to escort her home. Unable to get her out of his mind, Dwight sneaks into Damien Lord’s estate, where he observes Ava swimming, but is caught and beaten. Dwight is returned home, where a nude Ava waits for him. He tries to throw her out, but can’t resist her and they make love. She tells him that Damien and Manute torture her physically and mentally, and she knows Damien will kill her soon. Manute arrives and viciously beats a naked Dwight, sending him out the window with a single punch.

Determined to rescue Ava, Dwight recruits Marv to help him, and they mount an assault on Lord’s compound. Marv attacks Manute, putting him in traction and tearing out his eye. Dwight confronts Damien Lord, who denies Ava’s accusations, and an enraged Dwight beats him to death. As he reacts in horror, Ava appears and shoots Dwight several times, taunting him and thanking him for helping her murder her husband and take over his fortune. She shoots him in the face and forces him to fall out of a window, where Marv rescues him and takes him to Old Town. Dwight’s old flame, Gail (Rosario Dawson), recognizes him and saves his life. With the help of Gail and the deadly assassin Miho (Jamie Chung), Dwight undergoes reconstructive surgery on his face and plots his revenge.

Meanwhile, two detectives, Mort (Christopher Meloni) and Bob (Jeremy Piven), investigate Damien’s death. Ava claims Dwight was an obsessive ex-lover, and he killed her husband in a jealous rage. Bob is skeptical but Ava seduces Mort, who believes her every word. They begin an affair and Ava pressures him to find and kill Dwight. When Mort, obsessed with Ava, attempts to track Dwight down in Old Town (an action that would break the truce between the police and the prostitutes), Bob attempts to stop him. An enraged Mort shoots Bob in the face, then commits suicide afterward. Out of options, Ava reluctantly partners with the mob boss Wallenquist (Stacy Keach).

Dwight (with his reconstructed new face), accompanied by Gail and Miho, poses as Wallenquist’s man from Texas. Inside Ava’s estate, however, Manute sees past the new face and captures Dwight. Gail and Miho strike from Dwight’s car, and Dwight shoots Manute with a hidden .45 he had up his left sleeve. Six bullets fail to kill him, and Manute aims shakily at Dwight as Ava unexpectedly grabs one of Manute’s guns, shooting Manute several times. She attempts to convince Dwight to pair with her, and that the pain he suffered revealed his true intentions, but Dwight shoots her mid-kiss, and she dies in his arms.

“The Long Bad Night (Part II)”

Johnny visits an unlicensed doctor, Kroenig (Christopher Lloyd), who shoots up heroin before trading his services for Johnny’s last $40 and his shoes. Realizing he left Marcie unprotected, Johnny rushes to his hotel but finds the Senator waiting for him, along with Marcie’s dismembered head and hands. Again, the senator lets him go. Intent on taking down Roark, Johnny scrounges a dollar from a sympathetic waitress (Lady Gaga) which he uses to regain enough money playing slots to buy his way into Roark’s game the following night. Playing a card shark’s con, Johnny folds his first few hands, allowing Roark to taunt him about his dead mother. He once again cons Roark into going all in, then reveals his winning hand. Johnny taunts his father, reminding him that tonight’s story of how the same man beat him twice will follow him for the rest of his life. His vengeance completed, Johnny smiles resignedly, a single tear running down his face as Roark shoots him in the head, commanding his men to get rid of the body.

“Nancy’s Last Dance”

Four years after “That Yellow Bastard”,” Nancy Callahan is in a deep depression over John Hartigan’s death. She is obsessed with getting revenge on Senator Roark for having driven Hartigan to kill himself. As she wallows in despair, the ghost of Hartigan (Bruce Willis) watches over her, unable to reach her but still attempting to help. On the same night that Johnny joins the backroom poker game, Nancy attempts to shoot Roark from the stage of Kadie’s, but she can’t bring herself to pull the trigger.

Nancy hallucinates a visit from Roark, and shortly thereafter cuts her hair and smashes a mirror, using its shards to cut her face. She decides to get Marv to help her kill Roark by showing him the scars and making him believe that Roark was responsible. As they step out of the club, they meet a motorcycle gang there to shoot up the place. Marv kills two but leaves their leader for Nancy to finish off. The pair mount an assault on Roark’s compound: Marv slaughters Roark’s bodyguards while Nancy picks off the guards with a crossbow. Marv is wounded, but Nancy continues on alone to confront Roark. Roark shoots her first in the side, then the leg, and is about to finish her off. Suddenly, Hartigan’s ghost appears in the mirror—startling Roark long enough for Nancy to recover and kill him.

REVIEW:

What say we return to the streets of Basin City with Sin City: A Dame to Kill For? It has been a few years since the first film and there are two things that immediately pop into my head. What took so long and why now? I’m sure as I watch this film other queries will arise, so let’s see if this is worth staying in on a humid summer Wednesday night, shall we?

What is this about?

Cornering the market on sex and blackmail, Dwight McCarthy (Josh Brolin) matches rich men with prostitutes before snapping their photographs and selling the pictures to their wives — but he’d give anything to go legit.

What did I like?

Goddess. I am a straight, red-blooded, male, so it should come as no surprise that I found Eva Green to be extremely attractive in her segment of this film. However, it takes some guts to spend most of the time in various states of undress. With a body like hers, though, can you blame her? If they ever do a movie on the Greek/Roman gods, she needs to be cast, or at least considered for the role of Venus/Aphrodite. Now, putting aside her most perfect body, the segment itself is the most fleshed out part of the film, hence the reason it is the title’s namesake, I’d imagine. I was enthralled watching, waiting to see what other kind of treachery, deceit, murder, and whatnot would transpire.

Violence. In Sin City, there was quite a bit of violence. People were shot, decapitated, maimed, etc, all in the glorious, and unique, black and white aesthetic this film uses. Keeping with that motif, the filmmakers kept it going this time, rather than falling in the trap of making this look like a “regular” flick and, because of this, the violence contained in this picture appears to have that much more of an impact.

Connective tissue. Nearly 10 years ago, the original film was released. Unless you are one of those people who watches it on a loop and has every line memorized, then it is a sure bet that you don’t have the events fresh in your mind. Thankfully, the filmmakers kept this in mind and threw in some flashbacks and reminders for us. So many times, films that are released many years after the original just assume we remember everything, which is rarely the case!

What didn’t I like?

Indestructible. It was brought to my attention that one of the major characters, Marv, is nigh indestructible. What’s wrong with that? Well, the same thing that the current society has with Superman. He comes off as too powerful, even when he shows signs of humanity. There is also the little fact that Marv’s indestructibility is never explained. He just…is.

Identity crisis. In a bit of confusion regarding the timeline of these two films, we get a prequel to the character of Dwight McCarthy, Manute, Olde Town, etc. My issue with this has to do with casting. They chose to cast Josh Brolin as Dwight on the grounds that this guy had his face changed. When it comes to the face changing, the only difference is that he has a different hairstyle. I don’t know why Clive Owen chose not to return, but it would have been nice to have him take over the role with the face change.

Paternity. One of the things that got on my last nerve was how every chance he got, Roark mentioned his son being killed. Once or twice was enough, but this was just too much. Doubling down on this idea, it should be noted that the “yellow bastard” is all over his office. There is no way we can forget!

Final thoughts on Sin City: A Dame to Kill For? Many people didn’t seem to like this film for some reason. Perhaps it is the bad taste left in their mouth from knock off films such as The Spirit. I think I have become a fan of this film…perhaps even more than the original (I need to go back and watch that again, before I can say for sure). There isn’t a flowing narrative that connects all the stories together as in the first one, and I feel that is the major negative, but for the most part, this is a solid flick. Do I recommend it? Yes, very highly!

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

Wolfcop

PLOT:

Officer Lou Garou isn’t the best cop in small-town Woodhaven, in fact, he’s probably the worst. One evening during the night shift, Lou investigates a mysterious disturbance at the edge of town and wakes up with a pentagram carved in his chest, heightened senses and body hair that’s growing at an alarming rate

What people are saying:

“Take 80’s camp to extreme, add an interesting twist to the origin of the werewolf. Get an actor who looks like Ted Nugents crazy cousin who just happens to own a gun store. Throw in a little silly conspiracy theory (reptilian shape shifters) and you get wolf cop.” 3 1/2 stars

“As much as I enjoy the occasional low budget indie movie, this one just didn’t work very well for me. It had an occasional moment or two that was entertaining, but mostly, it was just bad.” 2 stars

“Reminded me of the sleazy glee of Troma and Hobo with a Shotgun, though not as entertaining as those.” 3 stars

“God-awful. One stupidity after another. Obviously made with almost no budget, but that’s forgivable. The completely ridiculous (not in a fun way) story is not. Also, a solar eclipse happens at the new moon only, never at the full moon. Nothing fun, interesting or redeemable here. Save yourself the time and just pick something else.” 1 star

“Wolfcop is amusing and gleefully gory, but is ultimately too jumbled to enjoy completely.” 2 stars

Von Ryan’s Express

PLOT:

At the height of World War II, a group of Allied POWs escapes an Italian prison with the help of an idealistic American leader (Frank Sinatra), whose style clashes with that of his second in command (Trevor Howard). Just a few steps from freedom, the men are captured again — this time by German troops. A series of twists and turns drives them to commandeer the very train that’s transporting them to certain death.

What people are saying:

“super movie about an escape from a pow camp in italy by stealing a train. sinatra is brilliant as the arrogant us fighter pilot leading the brits against the italians and germans. the last scene is an all time classic” 5 stars

“Well made escape film starts out very well drags here and there but is an enjoyable experience overall.” 3 stars

“talk about the Great Escape on trains, Frank Sinatra was great being the hard-headed fighter pilot colonel who chose to escape and not to leave a man behind despite what his British counter-part says about escaping prisoners” 5 stars

“Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard are a great antagonistic couple in Mark Robson’s thrilling war movie. Sinatra is an American pilot who crashes in Italy and is sent to a prison camp where Howard leads the inmates. The two bicker over whether it’s best to hatch escape plans or lie low till the war ends. When Italy surrenders the prisoners seize a train, planning to escape to neutral Switzerland. Much darker than earlier portrayals of WWII, characters are made to do a lot of nasty things which genuinely trouble them. Great downer ending too.” 4 stars

“I liked it but I couldn’t understand the German language. I guess they didn’t have captions when this film was made but all in all I understand the what was happening. This movie was made without all the bad language that is out there in Hollywood in the movie making business. I told you all a movie can be made without all this bad F words that are out there today. The Nazi Germans were evil in WWII, including the Japanese. were very evil” 4 stars

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus

PLOT:

While researching the history of a little-known empire, anthropologist Hess Greene comes across an ancient dagger that is shortly used to murder him. When he wakes up unharmed, Greene discovers that he’s developed an acute appetite for human blood.

What people are saying:

“When Spike Lee said he had to crowdfund ‘Da Sweet Blood of Jesus’ because no studio would let him make it, that made us think “Oh, because its going to be a non-commercial, challenging, artistic movie.” But what it actually meant is “No studio would ever allow a filmmaker to actually make a film this embarrassing.” 1/2 star

“Wow, what a hot mess of a movie. The stilted acting, low budget, black empowerment themes layered ironically with black exploitation, and basic gratuitous nudity make it feel like a bad 70’s horror movie for good reason. It is in fact almost a scene for scene copy of the 1973 film Ganja & Hess. I think it would have worked much better if it had been modernized, otherwise why not just watch the original?” 3 stars

“This movie is just terrible. Don’t watch it. The performances are terrible. The movie is too long. The soundtrack leads to awful shifts in tone and it feels as though a lot of the film was left on the cutting room floor. The movie felt too long, but also felt completely unfinished and unsatisfying. How does that work? It doesn’t. ” 1 star

“This movie had a lot of promise. A great backdrop: Martha’s Vineyard. Very good actors and overall creepy theme. However, Spike messed it up with bad directing. The beauty shots were great, but there wasn’t a story or it was told poorly. Quite frankly, I had no idea what was going on. The opening dance sequence didn’t match the film at all. The music score was off and the long church scene was weird and included horrible singers. I’d say the film is watchable but don’t expect it to make sense. Just enjoy the beautiful photography, great African art and lovely clothes. ” 2 stars

“An attempt at a disturbing vampire movie but ends up coming off weirdly racist and needing five hundred less sex scenes” 1 1/2 stars

Revisited: Swordfish

PLOT (spoiler alert!!!):

Stanley Jobson (Hugh Jackman) is a hacker. Having served time for infecting the FBI’s Carnivore program with a computer virus, he is now on parole but forbidden from touching computers. His alcoholic ex-wife Melissa (Drea de Matteo), who married a rich porn producer and is currently a part time porn actress has sole custody over their daughter Holly, and a restraining order preventing him from visiting the latter. One day, he is solicited by Ginger Knowles (Halle Berry), speaking for her boss Gabriel Shear (John Travolta), for his hacking skills. He goes to meet Gabriel in Los Angeles, where he is put on the spot to crack a secure government server within a minute while simultaneously held at gunpoint and receiving fellatio. Successful, Gabriel offers Stanley $10 million to program multi-headed worm, a “hydra”, to siphon $9.5 billion from several government slush funds.

Stanley begins work, learning that Gabriel leads Black Cell, a secret group created by J. Edgar Hoover to launch retaliatory attacks against terrorists that threaten the United States. He also privately discovers Ginger is a DEA agent working undercover, and further is surprised to discover a corpse that looks like Gabriel. He goes to see Holly home from school but finds he is being followed by FBI agent J.T. Roberts (Don Cheadle), who had previously caught Stanley. Roberts, though monitoring Stanley closely, is more interested in Gabriel as he does not appear on any government database, and after learning that another hacker, Axl Torvalds (Rudolf Martin), had been killed by Gabriel’s men, warns Stanley to be cautious. Stanley opts to secretly code a back door in his hydra that reverses the money transfer after a short period. Meanwhile, Senator Reisman (Sam Shepard), who oversees Black Cell, learns the FBI has started tracking Gabriel and orders him to stand down. Gabriel refuses, and narrowly avoids an assassination attempt ordered by Reisman. Gabriel personally kills Reisman in revenge and continues his plan.

Stanley delivers the hydra to Gabriel and leaves to see Holly, only to find that Gabriel has killed Melissa and her husband and kidnapped Holly, framing Stanley. Stanley has no choice but to participate with the bank heist to get Holly back. Gabriel and his men storm a Worldbanc branch, and secure its employees and customers as hostages and fitting each with ball-bearing-based explosives similar to Claymore mines. When police and FBI surround the branch, Gabriel takes Stanley to the coffee shop across the street to meet with Roberts, but Gabriel spends the time to discuss the film Dog Day Afternoon and the nature of misdirection. Once back in the bank, Gabriel has one of his men escort a hostage to demonstrate the situation. A sniper kills the man, and other agents pull the hostage away from the bank, causing the bomb to detonate, ravaging the buildings and vehicles on the street and killing several people, a scene shown in medias res at the start of the film.

Gabriel instructs Stanley to launch the hydra, and turns Holly over to him once completed. However, Stanley’s back door triggers before they can leave the bank, and Stanley is recaptured while Holly is rescued. Gabriel threatens to kill Ginger, who he knows is a DEA agent, unless Stanley re-siphons the money back to a Monte Carlo bank. Despite doing so, Gabriel shoots Ginger. Gabriel and his men load the hostages on a bus and demand a plane wait for them at the local airport, but while en route, the bus is lifted off by a S-64 Aircrane and deposited on a roof of a local skyscraper. Gabriel deactivates the bombs and departs with his surviving men on a waiting helicopter, which Stanley shoots down using a rocket-propelled grenade from the bus.

Roberts takes Stanley to verify the corpse they found, believing Gabriel was a Mossad agent while there was no record of a DEA agent named Ginger. Stanley recognizes the corpse as the one he discovered earlier and personally realizes that the whole scenario was misdirection. Gabriel had escaped a different route, and Ginger had been wearing a bulletproof vest and was working with Gabriel. Roberts arranges for Stanley to have full custody of Holly, and the two tour the US together. In Monte Carlo Gabriel and Ginger withdraw the money, and later watch as a yacht at sea explodes. Over the film’s credits, a news report describes the destruction of the yacht, carrying a known terrorist, as the third such incident in as many weeks.

REVIEW:

What does it say about a film that has a pretty decent cast, but it mainly known for a scene that last all of 15 seconds? That is the question I asked myself as I sat down to watch Swordfish this afternoon, wondering if the affinity I’ve had for this film in previous viewings is totally based on said scene. Let’s find out, shall we?

What is this about?

Determined to get his mitts on $9 billion in a secret DEA account so he can use it to fight terrorism, rogue agent Gabriel Shear recruits encryption expert Stanley Jobson to hack into the government mainframe.

What did I like?

Big action. Most thrillers aren’t known for their action scenes. With this film, the few scenes that have action are capitalized on. It makes one appreciate the  big payoff, if you will, as opposed to the kind of thing we get from Michael Bay type flicks, where it is non-stop explosions. These action set pieces are set up and executed with pulse pounding precision. It almost makes you wonder what this would have been like had it been a pure action movie.

Boss Travolta. The last time I saw Travolta as a crime boss, it was in The Punisher. He was somewhat believable there, but still felt like he was Travolta. His character in this film, Gabriel, feels like Vincent (his character from Pulp Fiction) survived being shot by Bruce Willis and just snapped. Aside from the weird hair and soul patch, I actually liked his portrayal of this guy. There is a calm on the surface, but also a murderous streak that lies under the surface. Both sides are shown when they need to be and Travolta does a masterful job of keeping those sides contained until the right time.

Hacktivism. There was a movie that came out not too long ago which had Chris Hemsworth as a hacker. It didn’t do much, partially because it had no direction. With Jackman’s hacking, he is doing it for the opportunity to be reunited with his daughter. What gets me though, is how Travolta was trying to convince him that the good of the one outweighs the good of the many.

What didn’t I like?

Miles ahead. Don Cheadle portrays a FBI agent in charge of computer crimes, or something like that. What is my problem with him? Well, he is trying to play a touch, yet cool cop. Nothing wrong with that, except there is no yang to his yin. I feel if one of the other FBI agents would have been his polar opposite, his character would have been more effective.

Techno. Is it me or does every film that has technocrime in it also have techno music? The scene where Jackman is doing his hacking thing, I felt like I was back in college, dancing at the club with some raver chicks. I’m not saying it doesn’t fit, especially for when this film was released. I’m just saying it is more of the same old, same old.

Stick it in. There is no mistaking Halle Berry is a beautiful woman with a gorgeous body. Can you blame her for wanting to show it off? If I’m not mistaken this came before Monster’s Ball, so her saying she “wanted to get used to being nude in front of the camera” is a valid point. However, the short topless scene of hers, in which she earned an extra $5,000, felt shoved in at the last minute. There are a couple of other option for Berry to have dropped her top. The first is at the pool party, where she very easily could have joined the 3 girls skinny dipping, or been seen topless somewhere. The other is in her lingerie scene. No one said she had to be wearing a bra there. At least with these scenes, I wouldn’t feel like I was force-fed a half-naked Halle Berry…that’s what Catwoman is for.

Final verdict on Swordfish? Surprisingly, this film has held up over time. Sure, a few things are dated, but for the most part, this film could be released today and still be as relevant to audiences. That said, I do have some issues with this film, but they are few and far between. When it gets down to it, though, do I recommend this flick? Yes, it is a solid viewing. Check it out!

4 out of 5 stars