Reviews

NO SPOILERS HERE....Don't worry

As I'm watching this film, I'm seeing a crew on board a medium sized vessel that is going out to visit a mysterious planet which has funky parasites that like to go into people's stomachs. Also, on this crew there is a robot helper, a Black ship captain, and even a potential strong-minded woman like Ripley. I'm saying to myself; "This all looks all too familiar and too much like 'Alien'". I understand Scott directed that one as well and directors tend to have a lot of similar material among their films, but this was getting ridiculous.

I won't mention what happens, but save your money and cross this off your summer movie list. The plot is quite confusing, the characters are as dumb as mud and the lead-woman protagonist is suicidal in stupidity as she confronts the enemy head on. It gets so annoying that you find it hard to even root for anyone to survive.

When the movie was over, everyone, including myself, left disgusted!

I've been wanting to buy the DVD of this movie for quite some time, but just never made the leap when I saw it on the shelves. Last night it happened to air on Showtime, so I gave it a shot, and I was instantly blown away!!! I guess it could be labeled as a dark comedy, but there's also so much brutal reality tied into it that the only way to tell a tale such as this is through humor. Rutger Hauer plays a hobo who passes through a town which is under the thumb of a sadistic mob boss and his bratty sons who happen to control everything, even the police force. After witnessing too much crime and debauchery around him, the hobo decides enough is enough and takes up a shotgun to start cleaning the city streets.

The plot isn't the most sophisticated in the world, but the comic book fashion in which the story is told makes it every enjoyable to watch. I like when a movie knows what type of movie it is and doesn't take itself too seriously. This reminded me of a crossover between "The Toxic Avenger" and "Sin City".

It's also a very short flick, so there's no reason not to spend 90 minutes to see this wacky gem.

For a man who was the backbone of the United States for nearly five decades, one would think Clint Eastwood and Leo could've turned out a better movie than this. I went to a showing tonight and there were less than 10 people in the audience, that should've been a sign.

The style in which the movie is told is very similar to the 1959 Jimmy Stewart classic, "The FBI Story", which backtracks history of the FBI from its early days and reviews its key early triumphs. There's also biographical accounts of Hoover's life, but nothing major we didn't already know, as in his likely homosexuality, his grudge against RFK, and tapes of scandalous material on JFK and MLK. The whole time I kept wondering to myself, what's this movie about and where's the story?

The make-up on Leo and his sidekick, "Clyde", was also ridiculous when theyhad to make them look older, it reminded me of the first Jacka$$ movie when Johnny Knoxville did the old man shoplifting sketch. Perhaps they would've been better off casting a legitimite aged person to play the older Hoover. Although in brief scenes, Bob Hopkins portrayal as Hoover in "Nixon" and Ernest Borgnine's version in "Blood Feud" left a better impact than the two hours Leo had to work with.

Without a real central story holding this together, with Leo not fooling anyone in his old man costume, and the fact we learn nothing substantial about Hoover we didn't hear about before, this movie is a real dud. Even if his more fictionalized and outdated, one would be more satisfied with the Jimmy Sterwart 1959 story about the FBI than this.

This was by far the worst movie experience I had in my life. It's not that its painstakingly slow, its the fact that nothing happens at all. You wait and wait and wait, and there's zero payoff.

People left the theater halfway through(which also happened with another Clooney film in Syrainna). I started it so, so I stuck it out praying for it to end ASAP. I understand there's some artistic value in the slow and quiet approach, so I'll give some credit for trying something different, but this was way overboard and made for awful viewing.

Basically Clooney plays some type of hit-man/gunrunner who has to spend time in an old fashion village waiting to make a gun deal. While in the village he mingles with some of the locals, and even pick up a love interest. There is some violence towards the end to help wake audiences from their coma, but in no way is it worth the wait.

I went to a midnight screening last night at Times Square because I've been wanting to see this picture for quite some time. With Colombiana movie posters on every street corner and wall I figured it was going to be a tremendous blockbuster to end the summer with. Didn't exactly end up that way.

With some of the names behind this film, I was surprised at the abundance of cheesy bad guys, predictable scenes, and flat supporting characters. The only thing that moves this story along is Zoe Saldana herself with her tremendous presence on screen and beauty, which is breathtaking. She's very believable as a stone-cold assassin, especially the way she sneaks and crawls around with ninja like precision.

It's too bad they couldn't place Zoe and her character into a better storyline and provide her with stronger support. Without giving away the ending, there's also a final fist fight scene in the end which looked like it was filmed and edited by two high-school kids. Isn't this 2011? The technology there was very lacking or done in poor choice.

I still would recommend seeing the movie as its not bad-bad and there are some cool kill scenes, but I wouldn't qualify it as a must-see. The movie is somewhat groundbreaking only for the fact we have a Latina female as the lead role in an action film, hopefully this finally opens to the door for other darker skinned actresses in similar roles, which has been long overdue.

I had a chance to catch this at the Sunshine Theater on East Houston in NYC. I was looking forward to seeing this movie after reading about it a few months ago, and luckily found a theater that was actually screening it. I initially heard of Danny Green from the Mobsters series on BIO Channel, so I already knew the background story, and overall this movie keeps things pretty real in that regard(with some dramatics added here and there for the sake of entertainment). Overall I was slightly disappointed as parts of the movie and the dialog was too "Hollywoody". Casting Christopher Walken for example, he's become such a fixture of humor because of the way he talks, so when he talks in this movie about serious subjects, its still funny. Plus the meetings and interactions(especially amongst the Italian characters) was so typical it seemed like a 18 year old wrote the script after watching a few episodes of the Sopranos. The special effects seemed very low budget on the car bombing sequences, you can totally see a green screen poorly camouflaged into the some of the shots. That being said it is a good movie, just not a classic like Goodfellas, The Godfather, or even something one tier lower like Casino or The Departed. Ray Stevenson is awesome and is able to carry the movie past some of the shortcomings I mentioned, but with the talented names in the cast and the storyline they had to work with, it could have been so much better.

With his performance Eastwood shows you why people like himself, Jack Nicholson, or Paul Newman only come around once in a lifetime. Though Eastwood would rather focus on directing, he can still carry a movie with his on screen presence, and he's pure dynamite in "Gran Torino". Perhaps the poor box office results of "hollywoody" movies like Absolute Power, True Crime, Space Cowboys, and Blood Work, caused Eastwood to shy away from acting, but given cutting edge material to work with as "Million Dollar Baby" and "Gran Torino", he's as good as ever. His character as the racist and salty war vet makes you think of that old guy we've all had on our blocks with the garbage door open, the million tools hanging everywhere, and always fixing or building something. I found myself not wanting the movie to end because the scenes between himself and the various Hmong characters where priceless. There may be complaints over the racist remarks and scenes, but Eastwood pulls it off in a way a real person like that would talk or act to a point where it ends up being lighthearted. I'm not going to give the plot away, but if you like your Clint Eastwood as a hard-nosed tough guy with foul language alla Dirty Harry or Heartbreak Ridge, you'll love this movie!!

This is by far the best gang-life documentary I've ever seen. This coming from a person who has watched and read plenty material regarding this lifestyle. Most documentaries like this try to focus on the flashy violence to get everyone's attention instead of investigating the roots of the culture. The title may give the impression that it focuses on the Bloods gang, but actually the story revolves around a small group of associates, in which only one is an actual true-red Bloods member. It's a collection of interviews and segments that span over ten years.

The reason I enjoyed this film so much is that most people have the impression that gang members just hang out, get high, and get into beefs every day. Those parts do play a big part in the lifestyle and it does appear in the film, but they're also husbands, fathers, sons, and people more like the rest of us than maybe we want to admit.

It's the little details which separates this from the other gang-life documentaries, it keeps your attention without the bullets, fighting, and scantily clad women. When you see the environment these guys come from, it's hard to imagine that its in the United States, you might think that they live in a third-world country. "Slippin" is definitely a real life journey worth taking without all the glamor that Hip-Hop makes it out to be.

I'm glad the special effects were weak when this series came out. This forced the writing staff to come up with great story lines rather than rely on ships blowing each other up and other pointless action. Sure Star Trek also needs action, but great love stories also carried this series. Kirk, Spock, and Bones, are accompanied by a dying female diplomat, and are forced by an unknown being to remain on a lonely planet. They discover an astronaut who was believed to be dead many years earlier. The astronaut has developed an unusual relationship with the unknown being which keeps him from dying, but keeps him from leaving. There is no action or fighting in this episode, no great tension, it's just all about love. This is definitely a "sleeper" episode than is greatly under-appreciated.

The crew discovers that all the adults of a colony have committed mass suicide, leaving the children by themselves. The strange part is that the kids show no ill effects towards the tragedy which occurred. As the children are taken aboard the Enterprise, their secret is revealed. They possess the power to control the thoughts of adults, aided by an evil spirit of course. The children succeed in taking over the bridge by driving the adults to face their worst fears. The acting was superb all the way around, especially when Spock is seen struggling for control of his own mind. A nice episode that gets over-shadowed by all the other classic ones.

A small group of superior alien beings take the form of humans in order for them to hijack the Enterprise. They need the ship so they can return to their old world that is beyond the Great Barrier. They turn almost the whole crew into these clay balls, except for Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and Bones, whom they need to help them run the ship. The only weakness the hijackers seem to have is that since they're in human form for the time being, they're vulnerable to human emotions. The episode starts out very serious and dreary, but ends up to the amusing as the crew exploits the human emotions of these so called, "superior beings". The best one is Kirk and Spock driving their leader insane with jealously over a woman. Excellent episode.

After a storm causes a transporter malfunction, Kirk, Uhura, Scotty, and McCoy are sent to an Enterprise in a parallel, but opposite, universe. They comes to find out that they are serving a new StarFleet which goes against everything their old StarFleet stands for. The ship is filled with brutality, lust, and the drive for power. You can feel the tension as they try to get to their own universe before the rest of the "evil" crew discovers the truth. The only thing that remains constant is a logical Spock, which shows logic stays the same whether good or evil. Also check out Spock sporting a little goatee for this one. The plot idea was a very good concept and it turned out to be one of the better episodes of the second season.

They goofed about in "The Cable Guy" when Jim Carrey and Matthew Broderick fought each other at the Medieval Times restaurant. Wow!!! What a way to kick off the second season. Spock is in heat because he is in the midst of the Vulcan mating period and must return to his planet. Once there, Kirk and Spock are forced to battle to the death for the hand of Spock's chosen mate. The music that goes along with the fighting will be used in other episodes as well be recognized throughout TV history. Nimoy did a great job of playing a sexually frustrated Spock that allowed his human side to really show up.

After Bones accidentally injects himself with a shot that causes him to have dementia, he jumps into a time-travel gateway and lands in New York in the 1930's. Kirk and Spock must go in after him and prevent him from doing something in the past that could alter the future. Kirk finds a love interest, played by Joan Collins, but comes to find out that she will play a key role in determining the outcome of Earth's future. Without spoiling it, lets just say it appears Kirk will never have a steady love relationship as long as he is captain. Great job by Shatner and leaves you numb at the end. He even uses the word "hell', which was probably a big deal on television in the late 60's.

The Enterprise investigates a deadly planet that supposed to have killed a community there, but instead they find that a plant's spores not only keeps them safe, but also acts as some "cult love-drug". This episode was defiantly a product of the late 60's, which is actually mentioned. Spock gets hit with the spores and his human-half ignites the flames for an old "interest" who lives in the community, played by Jill Ireland(Charles Bronson's former wife). Great acting job by Nimoy to add that warm love dimension to Spock's usual cold demeanor. The episode is rather light-hearted, and almost even comical, but definitely enjoyable.

The #1 oath for a captain is to give their lives before directly interfering with the development of a civilization. Kirk and a landing party board an empty starship and find the whole crew contracted a deadly disease that wiped them all out. Now that they too contracted the sickness, they dare not return to the Enterprise, but to the planet below to find a cure. On reaching the planet, they find Capt. Tracey alive and well. They will later find out Tracey has been using his weapons to influence power in the primitive culture which is forbidden by StarFleet regulations. Some great fight sequences with Kirk, including a great one-on-one showdown with Tracey at the end.

Though most hale "Amok Time", "The Naked Time", "The Man Trap", and "The City on the Edge of Forever", as the best episodes, and maybe they are, but I would have to say that is the most underrated story of all three seasons. It is an over-looked treasure I couldn't wait to get on DVD. The whole story takes place pretty much in one main facility. There are no back-and-forth to the ship or to other planets and stuff, which means the writing had to be extra clever to keep our attention. The big three of Kirk, Spock, and Bones, are forced to show an alien female what it means to sacrifice your life for someone else. The experiment is conducted by two superior alien beings who lose the meaning of life themselves in the midst of all the testing. With all the bickering Spoke and Bones do, you really see how much compassion they have for each other and their captain.

Of all the Death Wish sequels, this was the best. I think once they got to up part 3 with all the machine guns and rocket launchers, then it started to get a little stupid. The story almost has an identical plot outline as the first one and the action is just as good, if not, then even better. The shootout at San Pedro park was awesome!!! The only difference is that they make Paul Kersey have more emotional interaction with the creeps he kills which makes it seem to be more "Hollywood". In the first Death Wish, Kersey would just kill them stone cold without having a conversation. That's why the original was so good as so realistic.