The Losers

Okay so The Losers is your stereotypical action movie.  Complete with your group of friends, betrayed by the bad guy and left for dead, who need to clear their names and get revenge.  Now, don't get me wrong... THAT is not a bad thing.  :-)   I don't know about you but there is sometimes when the tried, true, and familiar are just what the doctor ordered.  There is something comforting about watching a familiar plot line with just a small difference or take.  Some may not agree but that's me.   So for me the like-ability was pretty high for this one.   The acting was also great...  Zoe Saldana once again is fantastic and shows that she can role with the punches, so to speak.  You can tell she is having a BLAST acting against the big boys in this action flick.   The action sequences and cinematography are also very good.   Like I alluded to earlier... where the movie fails a bit is in the story/plot.   Which is not very original.  It is, what it is though.  I would say that unless you are bored and want a night out... you could wait for this to come out on DVD.   If you want to get out though.. and enjoy some mindless entertainment then The Losers is the movie to see this weekend.  (4.0/6.0)

Kick-Ass

I have mixed feelings about this movie.   I am actually still trying to digest it all.  Kick-Ass in one sense is just like all the other action movies being released lately.  Lot's of action, violence, blood gun play, slow motion martial arts, wire work, etc.   The movie is chalk full of all the elements that go together to make an awesome roller coaster ride of a film.   There is nothing in it that you haven't seen before in movies like The Matrix.   Where it goes off the radar is in the character of Hit Girl played by Chloe Moretz.  In the movie she racks up MOST of the kills, swears like a trucker and gets the most laughs.  She is ALSO playing an 11 year old.   What I find I keep thinking about is that IF it wasn't for her in the movie...  I wouldn't think anything about the violence in the movie.  With her in it... its different... and really I don't that should be.   Again the cinematography was excellent and the acting as well.  It's the like-ability of the story that I am having trouble defining.   It definitely left me questioning where the line should be drawn..  Watch out for Moretz though... she is ONE talented little actress... I have no doubt she will do well.  (4.0/6.0)

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

Okay.. first off this is a foreign movie from Sweden..  :-)  So that means sub-titles on this one.  Yes I know, it means reading while watching but believe me its well worth it.  I would have to say that this Suspense, Thriller, Mystery is about the best I have seen in a while.  Probably going back to Silence Of The Lambs or Jennifer 8.  The multi-faceted story line has plenty of twists and turns to keep the best sleuths amongst the audience guessing.  The main story line has to do with a discredited journalist, who is soon to go to jail for libel, who is assigned one last job, to solve a 40 year old missing persons case.  Helping him do this is a brilliant young hacker (with a dragon tattoo), with her own issues from the past.  Together they stumble upon a horrifying history of violence and ritual killing..  What I liked about the story was that there were several subplots that at first you wonder how they relate.. but by the time the movie is done everything comes together.  If there is one flaw to the movie its in one pretty graphic scene... which I wont detail in order not to spoil anything...  Needless to say I thought they went a bit too far in this scene IMO.   I know, some people might not feel it's a big deal when they see it.. but for me it detracted from the movie.   In the end though, this is definitely a  great film if you LOVE mystery thrillers.   (4.0/6.0)

Date Night

Hillarious!!!  :-) This was truly an enjoyable comedy in all aspects but what it comes down to is the chemistry between Tina Fey and Steve Carell.  I must admit, I have been a Steve Carell fan for a while now, ever since I saw him in Evan Almighty.  Tina Fey on the other hand, I had less experience with, not normally a big fan of Saturday Night Live.   I was pleasantly surprised though as her comedic timing was a match for Carell's and they were able to play well off each other.  What was great was that these two were TOTALLY believable as a married couple.  I could actually see these two being married in real life.  Then they took it further and continued to play that way, despite the extraordinary circumstances the movie plot line put them through.  Often times when you watch these "fish out of water" comedies.. it becomes some what surreal as the character's don't react as they should when you think about the situation they are in.  In real life if things happened like they do in movies.. the couple would freak out.. or at least be scared out of there wits and alot of times in movies the characters don't portray this.  Carell and Fey were able to pull this off.   YES, they were in somewhat unbelievable circumstances.. but they acted like they should.. and just let the hilarity of the situation and GREAT one liners make the scene.  Lastly there was nothing overly "out there" in the story.   The plot flowed, logically from start to finish, without asking for the audience to stretch there imaginations too much to think that this could possibly happen.  On the whole a GREAT story/plot line and FANTASTIC acting make this movie truly enjoyable.  (4.5/6.0)

To 3D Or Not To 3D??

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So as many of you have might have noticed there has been a TON of the new Real D 3D movies coming out in the past few months.  And although it seems like this started with the release of Avatar, there had been a few rather forgettable movies before this... anybody remember Beowulf??   That being said...this year has been slated as the year of the 3D movie, with more than 20 new major motion pictures scheduled to be released in that format.   After reading up on the subject and on the advice of a good friend... I am going to weigh in and give my two cents worth.  :-)

So to start off with, in my mind there are basically two distinct approaches to making a 3D movie.  The first and best way is to set out to MAKE a 3D movie in the first place.  Using specially designed 3D camera's to capture the live action scenes, and computers to render the animated scenes in 3D.  As you are filming in 3D the director is keeping this in mind when designing his shots so as to take advantage of the depth he is going to get from the effect.   The best example of this of course is Avatar..  which I truly believe set the bar for 3D movies in general.  Say what you want about Cameron's epic... like it or hate it..  the 3D is spectacular

The second approach is to convert a standard 2D movie into a 3D movie in post production.  This approach I feel is where its possible to get into trouble.  On one end if you have a fully animated movie then you still can get a great 3D movie... as the 3D is handled completely through computer rendering.  An example of this would be How To Train Your Dragon.  Which is also a fantastic 3D movie.

On the other hand, where you have a movie that is a mix of live action and animated shots you will almost inevitably get mixed results, depending on the amount of animated shots you have.  Alice In Wonderland for instance was largely done with animated shots, with the actors filming against green screens... and in the end the 3D was decent and enjoyable.  (Although some may have noticed that the early scenes with Alice in the real world looked rather flat in comparison to when she was in Wonderland itself)  

Finally on the opposite end of the spectrum you have Clash Of The Titans...  (awesome 2D movie BTW) which was converted, only, to try to cash in on the 3D phenomenon... looks downright awful, in my opinion.   The 3D, what there was of it... was too little to be compelling and in fact became distracting. 

So in the end, I think that this year we are most likely going to be seeing a wide range of quality and as these movies COST more to see it makes sense to be wise in picking which ones we decide to fork over the extra dough.  To me movies shot in 3D or fully animated movies are the best bets...   anything else is not worth the money.  And really what's WRONG with 2D...  some of the best movies to date have been filmed in that manner and will continue to be so for some time to come.   Anyways that is my opinion...  and I would LOVE to hear yours.. Talk soon.. Dave.

Clash Of The Titans

Okay, I've been looking forward to seeing this movie ever since I saw the first teaser trailer for it last year.  Growing up in the '80s I remember and loved the first one so the idea of them remaking it using modern technology kind of thrilled me.  Now I know there are going to be comparison's between the two versions but I think that would be a mistake.  I think they both can stand on their own merits.   The earlier one built on, at the time, state of the art stop motion animation... to later one on CG.  Without going into much detail, and spoiling anything.. they changed enough of the story line to make a unique movie, while keeping all of the key components from the original.  Look for the bubo's cameo.  The acting wasn't bad... Sam Worthington once again does a credible job in role that he was given.  I would like to see him go further... I think he could possibly become a great leading man/action star.   I went to see this movie in 2D...  I know, I know..  but there was a valid reason.  This movie was originally filmed in 2D and was never intended to be 3D.  It was only converted to 3D later on with the success of Avatar.  I was just afraid that beings it wasn't intended then I can imagine the 3D might be less than stellar.  I haven't seen it yet though.. so I will leave that opinion for later.   That being said.. this is definitely a great movie.. that does justice to its origins.  Definitely worth seeing in the theaters.. (The Kraken will blow you away)  3D though... not sure its necessary to pay the extra money.    (5.0/6.0)