It's Complicated

Running Time: 120 minutes
Media: DVD

I have to confess I find Meryl Streep somewhat attractive, I loved her in Mamma Mia and I've at the same time despised her in both The Devil Wears Prada and Julie and Julia.

It is at this moment that I can say I found Meryl attractive again on this particular occasion. Here she plays Jane, a divorcee of ten years who finds the opportunity to rediscover the possibility of playing the field again... with her ex-husband Jake, played by the somewhat aging and slightly plump Alec Baldwin... who's remarried to the woman he left Meryl for!

Throw three kids and a potential love interest in the ever immortal and kid-at-heart, Steve Martin, playing Adam, an architect who has been retained by Jane to add an extension to Jane's home. Everything seems to be going smoothly until Jane swaps her ways with Jake for a more comfortable romantic interest with Adam. Jake as a result starts wanting Jane more than ever and does whatever he can to get her back.

The proverbial s[CENSORED]t hits the fan at a pivotal point that involves Alec Baldwin's nudity and a webcam, not a good combination by any extreme... for anyone (including the audience)! The idea of potentially seeing Alec's junk is not necessarily the only reason I'm giving this one less star, there's something that makes me feel that this movie's a little hammy, but not because of Martin, Baldwin or Streep, but some of the lesser known actors on the film.

All in all, I happen to have this film on Blu-ray and look forward to seeing it again on future occasions, though I may have to shut my eyes when Alec shows up in the buff! Four stars.

My Name Is Bruce

I don't mind the occasional Bruce Campbell movie... Army of Darkness is one of my favorites. My Name Is Bruce, sadly, is not one of my favorites... And I'll tell you why, although the movie has its moments, they're far and few between and the movie itself is a spoof on so many levels you forget that there was meant to be a plot line.

To be honest, I'm not sure how seriously I'm meant to take this movie... I have a feeling that this was deliberately done to spoof the number of schlocky B-grade films that have starred Bruce; and to be honest, I think I may be right. Bruce intentionally take the piss out of his own movie career and throws some even crappier fake movies on top of this to really upstage it.

This movie actually reminds me of ¡The Three Amigos! in plot line in many ways:

1) There is a main antagonist who is terrorizing a town;
2) The worried townspeople take solace in the heroes (protagonists) who appear to be the heroes they need to rid themselves of the antagonist; and bring the heroes to the town;
3) The heroes believe this is all meant to be a movie or production of some sort, only to find out that it's all real and there is a possible risk of harm or death to themselves, to then back-pedal out of the town as fast as they can;
4) The heroes get a change of heart when they realize how much everyone who had faith in them now despise them, in particular a possible love interest;
5) An unusual plan is hatched with the aid of some townspeople;
6) The antagonist is vanquished, resulting in the hero regaining the trust and respect of the townspeople.

Those who have seen both of these movies will immediately see the resemblance, and possibly similar links to those of other movies...

I have to give Bruce a little credit here, he's pulled out all stops to take the piss out of himself and still get away with it... there's a few clichés here and there that seem to crop up in such spoofs and although the humor comes in hot and fast, it kinda leaves you flat towards the middle of the film. I want to give it a 1 star rating, but I'd honestly be a bit harsh by doing so. It deserves double this amount, only for the sheer courage that Bruce has found to mock himself, and still get away with something that still ranks above the average on IMDb. For thoswe playing at home, at the time of writing this review IMDb had this movie registered at 6.4 out of 10.

The Breakfast Club

Running Time: 97 minutes.
Media: DVD.

There are certain films that change your life, some that you can't help but take a piece of it with you after seeing it. The Breakfast Club was one such film that changed the life of yours truly, the Movie Madman.

Would you believe I saw this film over three days when I was in primary school, back in the sixth grade, back in 1987, when VHS cassettes were all the rage, a CD was nigh unheard of, Rubik's cubes were the bane of every smart guys existence and Hall and Oates were considered one of the coolest bands back in the 80's.

Five students, complete strangers to one another, find themselves in detention together. They all have their unique personae, Emilio Estevez as the jock, Ally Sheedy as the socially displaced recluse, Anthony Michael Hall is the nerd, Molly Ringwald as the rich girl socialite, and Judd Nelson as the rebel, John Bender.

I think anyone from the 80's who has seen this film will immediately identify themselves with one of these characters. With me, it was mostly with Brian, the nerd/genius/geek. Being a nerd/geek (I'm not a genius by any means) I understood the pressures of trying to score good grades back in high school... And to be honest, I could understand where all five of the main characters were coming from in their own respective ways. 

I found this movie to be a great trip back down memory lane, and it made me sit back and smile. John Kapelos and Paul Gleason finish off the cast wonderfully, what with Kapelos starring as the philosophical school janitor Carl, and Gleason as Richard "Dick" Vernon, the antagonistic school principal. You eventually find yourself moving from hating Bender for being such an ass to everyone else, to cheering him on as the anti-hero of the movie. The one scene where Vernon threatens to beat Bender up is riveting and makes you seriously question who really is the threat to society. I laughed, I cried, I smiled; this movie was well written, well scripted and cast...

I am giving this movie 5 stars for reminding me what it was like to go back in time and experience a day in the life of a school student through their eyes...

Source Code

Wikipedia listed this as a "science fiction/techno-thriller"... As the concept of a "techno-thriller" is hard to define, I'll settle for "science fiction/thriller". For what Source Code is able to pull off in 93 minutes is astounding, and with a little bit of shock value and some tear-jerking moments towards the end has already given me reason enough to reach for the 5 star rating.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the part of Captain Colter Stevens who after a mission in Afghanistan wakes up to find himself in the body of some other guy on a moving train opposite Michelle Monaghan. Personally, the idea of waking up facing Michelle Monaghan has become the subject of a few dreams myself over the last few days since watching this film, but I digress. Stevens finds that he appears to everyone, and including himself in his own reflection, that he is Sean Fentress, a history teacher. Once he's come to terms with this unusual setting of events, the train blows up.

Colter then finds himself in a specialized cockpit which is part of the Source Code project, where he has the ability to basically travel back in time for eight minutes in the body of another being; over and over and over again. His mission, find out how the train blew up, who blew it up and why, and with what, etc., and prevent another potential dirty bomb from detonating. We find Gyllenhaal being re-inserted into the Source Code over and over and over until the very end. This movie is a mix of the Quantum Leap TV series, which I currently own in its entirety (yes, big time travel nut here) and 12:01, a movie that's not particularly well known, that involves a time-loop...

Now, one thing I noticed when I was watching the movie was hearing the voice of Colter Stevens' father, played by Scott Bakula... I nearly fell out of my chair in delight... Reason being? Scott Bakula's character in Quantum Leap, was that of Dr Sam Beckett, a man who kept leaping through time and whose consciousness popped into particular people's bodies; rather much like Colter Stevens did here! It's a nice little homage to Quantum Leap fans who would pick up on this little Easter egg within the film itself.

I've given this film 5 stars for originality and clever use of time travel concepts, and also for the little well-related cameo!

IT

Running Time: 181 minutes.
Media: DVD.

I never thought I would say this, but this movie still gives me the creeps after 21 years... I don't know whether it's because of the horror element, or whether Tim Curry just scares the bejeezus out of me... But Stephen King movies are designed for that one purpose, to scare the living s[CENSORED]t out of the audience; and he succeeds very well! This movie was a two-part series that was screened in the US back in 1990 over two days. The DVD came out some several years later as a double-sided disc, at a whopping 181 minutes... You actually had to flip sides half-way through...

The movie flips back and forth between two timelines of the lives of seven kids from the fictitious town of Derry in Maine. Seems Mr King has a fascination for Maine... which kinda makes sense seeing he was born in Maine so he must know the area rather well... IT is based on the novel of the same name, one of 49 he's written as of this time in 2011... A big achievement i would say in his genre of expertise, but I digress. These seven kids are taunted by the wise-cracking Pennywise the Clown, a character which is apparently just a shell for a being that awakens every 30 years to feed, and it seems that the concept of the "kid's meal" is taken a little too literally by Pennywise, who is apparently responsible for a number of murders then and even further back then.

The kids defeat him (or so they would believe back in 1960), and find out that he's come back some thirty years later, performing more kiddy murders... So we're now faced with a bunch of 40-somethings who then team up to go through the motions yet again and hopefully rid Derry of It once and for all...

I really enjoyed this film, but often felt the hairs of my neck stand up on end, and I love a good horror film that is capable of doing that! It was actually amazing to see both John Ritter and Richard Thomas in the same movie after so many years of starring side by side in the TV series The Waltons... What surprises me the most now is that Jonathan Landis, the guy who played the pre-teen Bill Denborough in the film actually committed suicide some few years back, a bit of a sad loss really. John Ritter also died some time back from heart-related issues. Tim Curry, who plays the role of Pennywise/It is outstanding and outlandish and fits so well in the part, it makes you realize how unique a talent he really is... it truly explains the reasons behind his acquiring the various other roles he has obtained in his career: Tim Curry has talent!

I would recommend this movie for anyone who wants a decent scare... they're guaranteed that with watching IT. I'm giving this 4 stars due to its great storyline, and I look forward to actually reading the novel by King. I'd give the movie 5 stars but there's a reasonable amount of disbelief that I have to take into consideration about the way some of the acting is portrayed at the start of the movie, a little hammy... but you tend to ignore it if you love movies the way I do.

Blade, Blade II and Blade: Trinity

Running Times: 120 minutes, 117 minutes and 113 minutes respectively.
Media: DVD.

I'm probably a bit crazy to see three vampire films back to back, but ask anyone who is a fan of the Twilight series of movies and they'll tell you something else.

The Blade movie trilogy does its best to work Wesley Snipes as the title character and does so rather well, but only for so long. The first movie focuses on the world of dhampir (half-human, half-vampire) Blade whose sole purpose it seems is to rid the world of vampires. Buffy Summers what the hell out... This bastard doesn't do bubble-gum horror. 

Blade in itself is a great movie and while a few scenes are clearly CGI, the movie itself is great to gain a basic grasp of the mythology behind the Marvel comic book character created in 1973. Stephen Dorff plays the ruggedly handsome Deacon Frost, Blade's nemesis in the movie, while the near immortal Kris Kristofferson plays Abraham Whistler, a kind of fatherly Van Helsing type character with a limp. This movie has a few areas which defy belief, for example; a vampire can tolerate sunlight provided they have an ample supply of high-strength sunblock.

Blade seems to have more credibility in this film than he does in the sequels, probably because of the lack of many other characters to tell the story... Wesley Snipes is a great choice for the character and I can see why the choice was made. It's a bit of a pity that he's currently serving time. I'm giving Blade 4 stars for a great film with plenty of action and the occasional blood-sucking vampire!

Okay, now for Blade II, in which Blade decides to join up (somewhat unwillingly) with what he hates the most, vampires; to hunt down an even greater threat, a mutation of vampires known as Reapers, only to find out there's a little conspiracy going on within the ranks.

The movie contains a few actors who, in retrospect are quite familiar with partaking in roles within horror-based movies... The godfather of horror, Ron Perlman, who seems to be a lot more handsome when he's playing Hellboy than when he did playing a Jewish gangster in Drive; and Tony Curran who played Markus Corvinus, the "first vampire" in the Underworld movie series.

I was pleasantly surprised to find Danny John-Jules (the guy who played Cat in the Red Dwarf) series also present, as I was a big Red Dwarf fan when I was younger, but have since not found him playing any major roles in anything. Luke Goss plays Jared Nomak, the original Reaper who is out to seek revenge for his father creating him. Goss's character is very much not necessarily an anti-hero, but more of an anti-villain... He didn't want to be the baad guy, but he.. just is... You kinda feel sorry for him in the end. The movie seems to have less distinguishable CGI, which to me is great, because you don't want to watch a movie and knowingly see CGI occurring... but the movie kinda ends a little sappily when Blade's co-hunter, Nyssa who's been bitten by Nomak wishes to "see the sun again one last time"... Blade seems to share what appears to be a quasi-intimate moment with her as she starts turning to ash as the sun rises. I've given this film 3½ stars for being able to continue the Blade franchise.

Lastly, Blade: Trinity... I think after six years the team at Marvel kinda started losing their touch with the series and decided to throw two new stars in the mix, the ever luscious Jennifer Biel, and the ever-wisecracking entity that is Ryan Reynolds. These two play Abigail Whistler and Hannibal King who are part of a vampire-fighting force known as the Nightstalkers. Their foe? Why only Count Dracula himself, who calls himself "Drake" nowadays... Guess Dracula... Drake likes to keep with the times!

The movie kinda gets a bit ridiculous at times, I'm not sure whether it's because Reynolds' jokes become a bit routine but are funny enough to keep the momentum going, or whether it's because of the somewhat hammy acting of Dominic Purcell, or the somewhat hammier acting of Parker Posey who plays one of Drake's minions, Danica Talos. I did manage to watch the film from start to end in one sitting... but I've come out of it somewhat disappointed... The movie seemed to end a lot quicker than normal, even though I was watching the extended version of the film... I guess what I can say is, that if Marvel do decide to do a reboot of the series, and that they do decide on say, Idris Elba, (of whom has expressed interest in the title role should there be a reboot), that they will have learned their lesson from this previous series... I guess this will be a matter of time as to whether this comes to fruition. I'm giving this 2½ stars due to it still being a somewhat reasonable film... but if it weren't for Jessica's good looks and Ryan's humor throughout the film, I probably would have not watched it.

He's Just Not That Into You

Okay, my first rom-com review, woohoo! I don't normally do rom-coms, but I sat through this entire film one night on the telly and couldn't stop watching.

Nine people from Baltimore go through the trials and tribulations of love. It's a bit of a tangled web that's weaved. Let's go through the list of names here in the cast...

Let's see, Jennifer Aniston, she's like the queen of rom-coms and ever gorgeous... Scarlett Johansson who basically plays an absolute minx in this film... I kinda swooned in the scenes where she's present.Drew Barrymore, she's a little... laid back in this film; which could be explained by the fact that she also produced the film and so did not want too much attention drawn to her, and more focused on the other characters in the cast. Jennifer Connelly who seems a little older than the others, she seems like more of a 40-something than a 30-something in this film... No offence to Ms Connelly, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love her in the film, but she seems to strike me more as a more mature-age actor nowadays, her youth and potential that she displayed in Labyrinth all those years ago is no longer at its peak. And then there's the irrepressively cute-as-a-button Ginnifer Goodwin, she kinda made me feel good to be watching this film... I kinda felt I was seeing myself in Justin Long's shoes in this film... Bradley Cooper, Kevin Connolly and Ben Affleck finish off the ensemble.

So they're all trying to figure out who's into whom, whether one couple will work out or not... In the end there's a few people who get together, there's a few that don't... But all in all, it made me feel good about myself after watching this film... No sense spoiling it for anyone, you need to see it in order to truly appreciate this film.

There's one thing that stops me from giving this film a 5 star rating, and that's the compulsive paranoia of Jennifer Connelly's character... obsessing more on the honesty of hubby Bradley Cooper's cigarette habit than the honesty of their relationship; and then there's that "older" persona that she seems to ooze... Now here's a quick bit of math, Jen Connelly is 40 now, which means she was 38 when she made the film... But she still seemed to give an over-40's vibe in the film... far much more than Jen Aniston who ironically, was 40 when she made the film and yet gave a mid-30's vibe to her character... So I'm going to give it 4½ stars, and while it is just a ti-i-i-i-i-i-ny bit off because of the Jen-Con factor, this will definitely be in the near future part of my DVD collection as a re-watchable film over and over again.

Hercules Returns

Running Time: 82 minutes.
Media: File Download.

I must have seen this when I turned 17... which magically coincided with its release year of 1993. I'm not particularly sure why, but I think it's only because of my memories of how funny it seemed at the time that has made me see this movie yet again...

This movie is a send-up of the original movie, now bear with me here... Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus gli invincibili, (back in 1964), and as much of a cult following that Hercules Returns has, the film did provide not much more than a smile on my face with a number of the jokes that seemed to pile in one after another... Remember, I had last seen this movie about eighteen years ago and so I've matured considerably...

The movie focuses on Brad McBain, a film buff and employee of a large cinema chain, who quits his job to open a local cinema of his own. His ex-boss attempts to sabotage the opening night by switching film reels with an Italian copy and completely undubbed, so McBain (played by David Argue), his publicist Lisa (played by Mary Coustas) and Sprocket the projectionist (played by Bruce Spence) attempt to save the evening by dubbing over the original movie with their own voices...

...At least that's what we're led to believe... Des Mangan and Sally Patience are the once providing the majority of voices to the principal characters in the 1964 movie being shown and being dubbed. As wonderful as this was that such a feat of over-dubbing could be done... most of the references seemed to be more focused on the 1980's than any other time period and there seemed to be a lot of immature fart and sex jokes... which are great the first few that come around... but then seem to meld into one another, making them somewhat difficult to distinguish and therefore leaves you wondering whether there was any original humor. To be honest, I saw more talent in the over-dubbing made in Kung Pow: Enter the Fist wiht Steve Oedekerk.

I'd be curious to see how the original movie would review, but for now, I'm giving Hercules Returns 3½ stars...

Hancock

I have to apologize for my tardiness over this last week... so many movies to watch and just not enough time to view them all. I'd be seriously considering, as a means of penance, to review several "time" related movies in the near future.

Meantime, we're reviewing a movie I happened to pick up on the TV last night, an old favorite, even if it is a little goofy; Hancock, starring Will Smith, Charlize Theron and the ever immortal and yet, somewhat vanilla, Jason Bateman.

This movie revolves around our eponymous self-titled character, John Hancock, a man who hates himself more than others do, and what makes it even more strange is that this guy has super powers: invulnerability, flight, super speed, super strength, and so forth... And while he does fight the good fight against criminals in Los Angeles, he does so at the cost of infrastructure, people's personal property, as well as in one case, the life of a whale. Hancock, played by Will Smith, takes on the services of personal relations consultant, Ray Embrey, played by Jason Bateman, much to the disdain of wife Mary, played by the incredibly dazzling Charlize Theron. Additional hijinks occur with the discovery of a secret within the Embrey family and the need for revenge by three of Hancock's lock-aways in prison.

The movie has astounding special effects but as I said just a moment ago, it can get a little goofy... I honestly thought there would be more chemistry between Theron and Smith's characters, because they seem to steal every scene they're in. Bateman is vanilla, but seems to ooze a boyish kind of charm, like a boy scout who never grew up. This guy has hardly aged a bit since his days in The Hogan Family...

The movie starts off at a reasonable pace, but then ramps up way too quickly towards the end; I figure it could have slowed down a little more and as a result would have been a better movie by incorporating a little more storyline. Will is funny, in an anti-hero sort of way, non-flirtatious, which was perfect for this role. I think Peter Berg, the director was trying to cash in on a similar tangent to Robert Downey, Jr.'s portrayal of Tony Stark from Iron Man, but intentionally turning off the charm switch to get a low-esteem version of a superhero. He succeeds in doing this, but he doesn't overdo it. This movie gets 3½ stars for a great movie, but failing to provide a fuller sense of what this movie could have been if it had pushed harder.

The Transformers (TV Series on DVD)

Running Time: 2549 minutes.
Media: DVD.

After having recently acquired two figurines from a friend of mine as a belated birthday gift, I've been inspired to review something now some 25 or so years since its initial release to TV, the Transformers cartoon series, and in this case, the original series from 1984 to 1988...

Sad, isn't it? Not really, considering the recent movie trilogy has raked in over $2.6 billion USD, I'd say it's done incredibly well, based off a very unique concept... Well, maybe not so unique. Anyone who tuned into Channel 7 down here in Australia back in 1984 to 1985 on an early Saturday morning, as I did would have seen similar antics from a race of transforming robots known as the Mighty GoBots, also marketed down here as Machine Men. Hasbro went a step further and came out with Transformers, of which Marvel, Sunbow Productions and IDW Publishing took it further, and released both the cartoon series on TV and the comic book series. Being young and not able to afford comic books back then, I was content enough to let 22 to 24 minutes of my life every week be devoted to watching these amazing robots battle against one another. Autobot against Decepticon. Decepticon against Autobot.

I took the opportunity earlier this year to sit through all 98 (yes, count them, 98!) episodes due to a relatively small investment at a local video and entertainment store, and purchasing the boxed set. It was always a passion of mine to own the series some day. The entire series is spaced out on 15 DVDs, which, including features is a whopping 2549 minutes... Which is a solid 42 hours and 29 minutes... And I spent the good part of three weekends going through all these...

The incredible thing about Transformers is that while the movie series of late may not appeal to the harshest of critics, the original series however, will always bring them back home. The series marks the struggle of the Autobots, in the brave command of Optimus Prime, in the battle against the evil Decepticons, headed by the maniacal and from recent reports, chronically emphysemic, Megatron.

The somewhat disappointing part of this, is that while the series portrays the Transformers from seasons 1 through to 4; the critical turning point post-season 2 to pre-season 3, has been left out. You actually are required to purchase "The Transformers", the animated movie, to see how things follow up from the end of season 2, to the start of season 3. The movie does not come bundled in with the series, which is a tad disappointing.

All in all, the Transformers cartoon series is great for any hard core fan such as myself. I'm giving this 4½ stars for bringing back childhood memories, having only deducted the ½ star for not having had the Animated movie to link the two middle series together.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2009)

Running Time: 152 minutes.
Media: DVD.

The book on which this movie is based, has but of course, become the next thing since the Harry Potter series and the Twilight Saga. Stieg Larsson brings his characters to life in the Millenium series, the first, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, is a best-seller. It seems every second person is reading this book... The Movie Madman has only just finished it last week, and is soon to follow it up with reading the sequel, The Girl Who Played with Fire.

But the real question is, how well does The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo translate onto the silver screen? I missed out on seeing this in the cinema and so I've had to resort to watching it on DVD. So I'll give you the best review I can.

One thing you'll come to notice is that this movie is in Swedish, and with English subtitles, so one thing I've come to learn is that you are continuously looking at the subtitles, as if watching a foreign movie on SBS. This can get annoying if, unlike myself, you are not used to having to read a movie. The title itself "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" isn't even the actual translation for the Swedish title "Män Som Hatar Kvinnor" which translates to "Men Who Hate Women"; which kinda gives you a bit of an idea of how dark this story can actually become, and considering the movie features much more graphic and somewhat violent scenarios, the book seems a little lean in comparison. Having read the book recently, I've always been curious to see how well the book translates into film. Accordingly, I tend to have somewhat high expectations of such book-to-movie transitions. I have to confess, even some fifty minutes in, the movie does adhere considerably to the storyline, with a few minor alterations to help speed the story along, but nothing that would detract from the original altogether.

Noomi Rapace stars as Lisbeth Salander, the enigmatic gothic computer security consultant; who is actually quite gorgeous, despite the black make-up and piercings. She'll actually be starring in the new Sherlock Holmes movie coming out in December alongside of Robert Downey, Jr. Mikael Blomkvist, played by Michael Nyqvist, who stars in the newest film in the Mission Impossible film franchise, Ghost Protocol, is also pretty much spot-on in his portrayal of the troubled journalist. If anything, he fits my expected interpretation of his description from the book.

This movie does come with a caveat from me, as it does contain scenes of violence and sex-related themes which may offend or upset some people. To be honest, I would highly recommend reading the book first before even considering watching the movie as I am doing now; kinda prepares you for what you end up seeing. Mind you, now having seen the movie, I now have a strange desire to eat meatballs and herring, and buy stuff from IKEA.

I personally would love to see how the American remake of this film, starring Daniel Craig and Rooney Mara, as Mikael and Lisbeth respectively, plays out in comparison. I'll be giving this movie 4½ stars for an excellent interpretation from print to screen.

K-19: The Widowmaker

Running Time: 138 minutes.
Media: DVD.

I'm always a little anxious when I come across a film whereby well-known actors are cast in roles where accents are generally required... Such is the quandy I find myself in now, whilst watching K-19: The Widowmaker, a war film that stars two legends (in my personal opinion), Liam Neeson, a seasoned Irish actor; and Harrison Ford, also a seasoned actor, hailing from Chicago, Illinois. To hear these two men converse with their Russian accents reminds me of a classic quote from Raphael from the 80's cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:

"He's not only from an alternate dimension, but also ancient Japan. So naturally, he speaks English." 

Don't get me wrong here, K-19 is an excellent movie, but the audience needs to look past the occasional accent-related glitch that may arise when you hear both Neeson and Ford talking. The accents slip in and out sporadically, but after a while you do become desensitized to it and you're able to focus more on the plot. I had a similar problem regarding accents in Valkyrie but not at the start of the film when I heard Tom Cruise deliver the prologue in flawless German; but when I heard many a British or American actor playing the role of a German speak in English accents... I guess I'm a stickler for the want of a bit of realism without requiring a leap of faith... or an atlas, to figure out where exactly I am.

The story unfolds in the early 1960's where the K-19, Russia's flagship nuclear submarine has been launched, headed by Captain Alexei Vostrikov, played by Ford. His XO, Mikhail Polenin, is played by none other than Neeson. Naturally these two come to blows about all sorts of crap, whilst still sharing unwavering patriotism for Mother Russia.

The s[CENSORED]t hits the proverbial fan when the submarine is reaching American waters only to find that the vessel's nuclear reactor system is leaking, which is a threat to not only those on board but also the missiles on board.

Harrison Ford provides some humorous food for thought around 13 minutes in, when he says:

"...No sailors have been given such a boat as K-19. It is the finest submarine in the world..."

Given the circumstances that follow makes me wonder, if the K-19 was the finest submarine in the world known in Russia, can you imagine what the worst Russian submarine would have been like? Probably would have been a dead-set lemon in comparison... Sailors would have to get out and push, brakes would have gotten stuck now and again and you'd probably would have to get in and out through the windows because the doors were stuck like it was some huge marine equivalent of the General Lee. But I digress...

The film plays well from start to finish, and as the casting of mainstream actors for the movie was limited mainly to the two opposing officers, the film was kept well grounded from the start. K-19: The Widowmaker receives four stars, given the intermittent accent issues from Neeson and Ford, but despite this I know I'll be enjoying this film now and again for years to come.

Fright Night (1985)

Running Time: 106 minutes.
Media: DVD.

Would you believe I picked up this little gem of a DVD for a mere dollar at a garage sale? I was blown away when I saw this and decided to go for it!

Fright Night is a 26 year old movie according to the timeline now, and stars William Ragsdale as the ever paranoid vampire-phobe Charley Brewster... For those playing at home, William Ragsdale played Herman Brooks in the 3-season sitcom series Herman's Head from 1991 to 1994. According to Wikipedia, Ragsdale would have been 24 when the film was made, so the older person playing a teenager idea is nothing new (consider nearly ever member of the cast of Glee). In fact if I recall correctly, Michael J. Fox was about the same age when he started work on Back to the Future; and surprisingly Ragsdale plays the part of a teen rather well, even though he does seem to bear a slight resemblance to Finn from Glee.

The one thing that surprised me is the starring of Amanda Bearse as Amy; and while the name didn't ring any bells that immediately, her face did... Amanda was known for her recurring role as Marcy in Married... With Children... And she's actually quite cute in this film... What the hell happened to her nowadays?

It all seems to go to pot for Charley, a fan of horror films, when he accidentally spies on his next door neighbor sucking neck on an unsuspecting victim. The neighbor, Jerry, is a vampire played by Susan Sarandon's ex-husband, Chris Sarandon, then gives Charley an ultimatum, leave him be, or he'll be killed... Charley, however, prefers to keep living... so he's in deep poop... Hijinks ensue when Charley recruits the services of supposed "vampire killer" Peter Vincent, played by Roddy McDowall, with the help of his girlfriend, Amy, and Charley's best friend, "Evil Ed", who seems to have been placed there for comic relief. At this point, the Movie Madman would like to state that the director failed miserably... It seems that although Stephen Geoffreys, who plays Evil Ed, seems to have a lot of experience in movies such as this, that the addition of him to this film, ironically subtracts more appeal from the film rather than adding to it.

The movie itself starts off with more oomph than you would expect of an 80's vampire flick, but it kinda starts to plateau after about halfway... and to be honest, the acting starts to get a bit lame after that point. Be on the watch for a scene between a recently sired "Evil Ed" and Peter Vincent, as well as a similar scene where these two characters meet again later on in the movie; and you'll see my point.

The back on the DVD boasted "If you love being scared, this will be the night of your life!"... To be honest, I didn't really find this movie as frightening as claimed. The film ends in the stereotypical fashion as most vampire movies did back then, but it's kinda left me kinda disappointed as the acting becomes quite schlocky and the special effects get progressively worse. I'd be more inclined to see how the movie's remake of Fright Night that was released in August earlier this year fares in comparison... I'm giving this movie two stars for the effort, even if it wasn't a decent effort...

Sherlock - Series One (TV Series on DVD)

Being a huge Sherlock Holmes fan and having seen my fair share of Sherlock Holmes movies, TV shows and whatnot; to hear that there would be a more up-to-date version coming to TV seemed a little bit of a stretch... I mean, how could you modernize a classic like the stories of Sherlock Holmes?

Amazingly enough, the series, created by the BBC, does it incredibly well. Co-written by Mark Gatiss, one of the co-stars of the series and also one of the writers of the Doctor Who series, the show incorporates very creative interpretations of the original Sherlockian canon of stories.

The first series involves only three episodes, A Study in Pink, The Blind Banker and also The Great Game. The first, revolves at first around how both Holmes and Watson meet and their familiarizing themselves with one another; whilst also solving a case involving the deaths of a number of supposed suicide victims. The other two episodes revolve around a smuggling ring and a race against time to save innocents from being blown up, leading to the final conclusion where we see the cliffhanger moment by which the series leaves us, baiting the audience to wanting more.

Benedict Cumberbatch seems quite young but holds his own as the self-titled lead, with an air that speaks volumes. Cumberbatch in his mannerisms and attitude cries out "Sherlock Holmes" in so many ways you literally get sucked into this world where the essence of Holmes actually resides in a thrity-something year-old man in the twenty-first century. Sherlock (it seems that both Holmes and Watson now refer to each other by their first names) displays a very Asperger-esque manner by which he works his way through one clue to the next. Martin Freeman, a seasoned actor, shows his strength as the war-ravaged and sometimes comical Doctor John Watson.

For a DVD series, I'm eagerly awaiting the release of the second series on TV and hoping the DVDs come out as quickly. By far, a brilliant piece of work, even though at times it does detract from the original stories. This series will be receiving 4½ stars, and I hope series two receives the same.

In Time

Running Time: 109 minutes
Media: Cinematic Release

Due to circumstances beyond my control, the last film from my seven movie marathon on 29/10/2011 started about fifteen minutes earlier than advertised. Needless to say I've sent my concerns to the cinema in question ad awaiting further word to their response for starting a film much earlier than they should have. Granted, it was probably one of the final sessions for the day and they may have wanted to finish early, but at the cost of not notifying patrons of this change may have gotten a few more disappointed movie-goers such as myself.

That aside, In Time, a film which is set in a future where the aging gene has been turned off, so (woohoo!) everyone gets to live forever, right? Wrong, it turns out there's a contingency plan set in place... You stop aging when you turn 25, however once you hit that quarter century, a timer activates on your arm, counting down a year... At this stage, you know you have a year to start earning more time in order to stay alive. Time has, as a result become the ultimate currency. As a result, the rich can pretty much become immortal while the poor, like Will Salas, played by Justin Timberlake struggle to get through day by day. When your counter reaches zero, the death is like having the plug pulled from you and you basically fall where you die. This form of death is the basic driving point of the film, beating the clock in order to get the next few seconds, minutes and hours just to stay alive. A scary thought indeed.

Will Salas finds himself in a unique dilemma after saving an aristocrat from "New Greenwich", the rich side of where he lives; it seems the 105-year old Henry Hamilton is tired of his life and wants to end it. He transfers the 116 or so years left on his timer to Salas while he sleeps, leaving him enough time to go to a nearby bridge and wait for time to catch up with him before plunging to his death into a storm drain. Salas sees this happen and runs for his life, whilst also being pursued by a mob known as the Minutemen, led by a 75 year-old chap called Fortis, who rob the unsuspecting poor of their precious time; and a Timekeeper known as Raymond Leon, who attempts to adhere to the laws set by time, to ensure that nothing illegal happens, whilst also trying to live day to day.

The movie which also features Amanda Seyfried as Sylvia, an aristocrat whose dad is 110 and the overall bad guy of the movie, and Olivia Wilde, who plays the part of Will Salas's mother, Rachael Salas. Now, I know there have been a lot of MILF jokes going around the 'Net, with guys saying how much they'd love to do Justin Timberlake's mom... I know, crude... but, hey have you seen Olivia Wilde lately? She's still one smoking woman!

The movie takes on a "Bonnie and Clyde" sort of feel to it toward the end, and with the lack of color available in this film, which is usually the case in many a dystopian type of movie, the film does seem to work rather well. You find yourself racing against time with them as they try to survive with every action they take. For some reason I could have seen this movie being a bit longer, but the length was quite adequate, and I did find myself glancing at my left arm a few times expecting to see thirteen numbers counting down instead of my Fossil watch! I've given this movie 4½ stars and a strong recommendation to see it if you fancy a bit of a sci-fi fix... This is by far one of the most original films I've seen.

The Three Musketeers (2011)

Running Time: 110 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.

This version of the Alexandre Dumas père classic has actually failed somewhat to appeal to most movie critics such as myself, and I can see why... Don't get me wrong, there's action, and more action, and more action on top... Though it seems that what Paul W. S. Anderson, the director has done was taken the original story by Dumas, spun a lot of black outfits on the title namesake cast, and threw in a lot of steampunk elements into it, and called it a "film". I don't know if I can call it that.

The Three Musketeers calls for a lot of suspension of disbelief whenever certain steampunk references are used; the super-duper crossbows, the airships, and so forth, all make you wonder whether this could ever possibly happen in 18th century France and England; or whether this was some warped alternate dimension. The title cast are all virtually unknowns to me, leaving actors like the vivacious Milla Jovovich playing Milady de Winter, and the ever typecast Christoph Waltz to play Cardinal Richelieu, to grace our screens and remind us that this is not one of those independent films that you would find stashed away in the back of the DVD drawer. The only real star of the movie is Orlando Bloom who (knowingly and intentionally) hams up every scene he appears in and defies our logic on top of this by walking around in heels.

Yes, it does adhere to the original storyline (somewhat), but aside from this Paul Anderson's decisions that led to this film being released as what I saw this past Saturday are somewhat deserving of the 3.9 out of 10 rating received on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm inclined to agree with them here. To be honest, the film's previous remake in 1993, starring Kiefer Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, Oliver Platt and Chris O'Donnell gave this version a considerable kick in the ass in comparison.

What's surprising here is that the way this film ended gave the possibility that there may be a continuation of this movie in a sequel... I highly doubt this could happen given how schmaltzy this movie was... I'm giving it the lowest rating I've ever given so far, and that's two-and-a-half stars; though I have a feeling I'm being fairly kind there...

Real Steel

Running Time: 127 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.

When I first heard about this particular movie, I was like "Hang on, I know this from somewhere..." and did a little digging... Sure enough the fifth film of my seven movie marathon on 29/10/2011, was based on an old 1963 Twilight Zone episode I had seen ages go in a re-run.

This sci-fi movie takes place in the not too distant future, in the year 2020. Regular boxing by humans has been replaced by robots. Hugh Jackman plays Charlie Kenton, a former boxer who owns such a robot who ultimately gets KO'd to pieces and is eventually replaced by Atom, the robot visible in the movie poster here, who ends up competin against a number of odds in teh robot boxing scene. Not only that but Charlie has to deal with his somewhat estranged son, Max, an eleven-year old Justin Bieber clone with an ego the size of a small third world nation. He's stubborn, supposedly quite knowledgeable and he despises his dad. What joy, what bliss...

The estranged parent and child storyline has been done ad absurdum, as has the underdog storyline... Putting the two together and throwing it in with CGI characters which resemble souped-up Rock'em Sock'em Robots from the early 1980's, gives some credibility to the film and pays the original story from which this was based, some well respected tribute; but this is not a film to be taken too seriously. It's definitely a film to take your kids to see, but after four rather great films, Real Steel didn't seem to sit as far up as the others I had seen that day. By this time, I had already seen four amazing films, it was edging toward 9pm and I kinda felt that the film was not on the same par. I honestly think it was the kid's ego in that film that spoiled it for me...

All in all, this would be a great movie to take the kids to, they'll enjoy the robots smashing one another, over and over again. Take them to see this film and they will do the beds, the dishes and the lawn for a good few weeks to make up for the joy they receive for seeing this film. Adults, it's a fairly decent effort and Jackman plays his part well enough to get some respect from the audience. Be on the lookout for Kevin Durand as Ricky, Charlie Kenton's nemesis. Those who have watched enough of Hugh Jackman over the years may recognize Durand as the actor who played Fred J. Dukes (aka The Blob) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

I've given this movie 3½ stars for a decent effort, and great use of CGI.

The Thing (2011)

Running Time: 102 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.
 
The Thing was the fourth movie in my seven movie marathon on 29/10/2011. This movie actually serves as the prequel to the 1982 version of the movie which starred Kurt Russell!

I was actually quite impressed with this sci-fi/horror film, and having seen the 1982 version *ages* ago when I was much younger, this prequel kinda answered a few questions about the original; and it's also made me want to get the original and see it again!

The scene of where it all happens is in the Thule Antarctica station in winter, 1982. Put simply, the Norwegian research team there come across a spaceship underneath the ice; but also an escaped alien encased within the ice, which the team, aided by scientists played by Eric Christian Olsen and Mary Elizabeth Winstead drag back to the station. Winstead plays a very Ripley-esque character who reminds me a lot of Sigourney Weaver's well known role in Alien, whilst still resembling Winona Ryder. You may recall Winstead's portrayal of Ramona Flowers in Scott Pilgrim vs The World back in 2010.

I guess everyone can figure out what happens next, the alien naturally escapes from the ice... and like in any isolation/alien film, people start getting killed off by the alien. The beautiful thing about The Thing, is that the alien has this natural gift to not only absorb other people but also imitate them... mind you these Things seem to have a knack for not staying hidden for very long... One particular scene involves one particular individual who has been imitated by one of the Things to absorb another individual, fusing with it... It was kinda disgusting actually! But very well done...

The scenes move from one to the next in quick succession and work fast enough for the audience to catch up, but leave you guessing for more as to what happens next. I thoroughly enjoyed this film but will be giving it four and a half stars as the special effects were a little unbelievable at times, even though the film has been carefully researched to incorporate a number of elements from its 1982 sequel.

Drive

Running Time: 100 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.

Drive is a really unusual movie... the third movie in my seven movie marathon on 29/10/2011.

And when I say "unusual", I mean "warped"... Drive is a crime drama which seems to start off in a manner similar to how we'd picture one of the films from Jason Stratham's The Transporter series. Ryan Gosling stars as the unnamed film stunt-car driver who moonlights as getaway driver, who despite his being much of a conversationalist seems to make up for this with his ability to put pedal to the metal.

In Drive, the Driver finds himself involved with jailbird husbands and their suffering families, Jewish mobsters and conspiracies; all which sends the film spiraling to an inevitable emptier conclusion than expected, which although ties up loose ends, does so sloppily and leaves you wondering how you wound up where you were at the end of the film. Given though, that this is an art-house kind of film, and not necessarily a Hollywood blockbuster, I have to shift my perspective accordingly.

There's a great sense of apathy in this film and it seems there's very little emotion displayed on the characters save for anger... and yet the Driver seems to be the only person who provides any real emotion... well, towards the second half of the film... aside from that, the Driver very rarely says anything more than five words at any one time, if that. This considerably screwed with my head as you would think the main character of a film would be the one who tends to have a considerable speaking part... The violence in this film increased almost exponentially as time went on and this also was a considerable cause for concern, as far as the audience's reaction was concerned.

This movie exhibits a lot of 80's themes, scenery, and references... the mobile phones, cars and clothing are very antiquated, and even the soundtrack is very 80's-influenced; which adds to the feel of the movie. But still, this movie left me reasonably uncomfortable in the end; whether this was due to the violence, or how it left me at the end, I'm not sure... At the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, Drive was praised and even received a standing ovation... To be perfectly honest, I simultaneously can and cannot imagine why either of these would be the case. I admit, the 80's themes and the quiet brroding nature of Gosling's role are novel, but a standing ovation and so forth are, in my personal opinion, somewhat questionable. I've decided to give this movie four stars.

Contagion

Running Time: 106 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.

Contagion was movie Number Two of my seven movie marathon on 29/10/2011. By this stage, my brother-in-law, Sam, and I were in high hopes of this being another great film, and it does achieve this, but it does leave a few holes in the end - I won't say how it does this, but this just a word of warning.

The movie is based on a touch-based virus which spreads like wildfire throughout the world and the attempts to stabilize and fight the spread of it. Steven Soderbergh has a tendency to direct fairly decent films with a great storyline and featuring a star-studded cast. Contagion is no exception to this formula of Soderbergh's.

This movie kinda smacks with Outbreak-esque tendencies but then diverges with four separate storylines that start from "Day 2" of the movie, where an unfaithful Beth Emhoff played by Gwyneth Paltrow, has a little tryst with an old flame in Chicago on her way back from Hong Kong to see her family again. She later dies some time after from unknown causes. From there a number of people around the world start exhibiting similar symptoms and start dropping like flies. A mad race to discover the cure before it takes hold of everyone capable of doing so then ensues.

Like all medical thrillers of this kind, it tends to hold off until the eleventh hour before resolution of the pandemic occurs... However, it seems like all the four storylines have had to entwine in order for this movie to work. Tying these storylines together however is a little bit of a challenge, and although Soderbergh manages to do this, it leaves you a little empty. The movie comes full circle at the end of the film as it shows the series of events that lead to "Day One", and even then it leaves you feeling just a little bit empty, like there's something missing, but you just can't place it...

Still I enjoyed this film, and I'm gonna give it 4½ stars for great effort, but I'll leave it shy of the elusive 5 star rating because it leaves a few questions unanswered.

The Cup

Running Time: 106 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.

The Cup was movie Number One of my seven movie marathon on 29/10/2011. I crazily enough dragged along to the movie marathon my brother-in-law, an avid film fan, rather much like myself.

The Cup is an biographic film covering the two months prior to the 2002 Melbourne Cup (which coincidentally enough will occur in a few days time). It details the trials and tribulations surrounding the life of Melbourne Cup winning jockey Damien Oliver, who won with the horse, Media Puzzle in 2002; but had also lost his brother, fellow jockey Jason Oliver due to a tragic racing accident some weeks prior to the Cup.

An emaciated looking Stephen Curry (of The Castle fame) captivates the screen with his portrayal of Damien Oliver, the jockey facing both tragedy and victory within the film. Brendan Gleeson plays Dermot Weld, the Irish racehorse trainer who entrusts his victory to Damien winning the cup with Media Puzzle. Gleeson plays his part well, though his voice kinda reminds me of the voice he used when he played Professor "Mad-Eye" Moody in the Harry Potter series, but that was just a momentary observation which doesn't spoil the storyline.

The movie plays slowly, but really kicks in about fifty minutes in... Coincidentally enough this seems to kick in around the time of Jason Oliver's death. As this was an event by which was felt by pretty much all Australians back then, it proved to be quite tear-jerking even in the cinema. Curry's sense of grief is felt by the audience as he shows his vulnerable side. I couldn't help but feel the sense of anguish that Curry felt.

I had heard that Stephen Curry had to lose about 12 kilos (about 27 pounds) to get his body in the right shape to play the part of Damien Oliver. This contrasts considerably to the last biopic he made, The King, where he played the younger and older versions of Graham Kennedy, and was required to lose 14 kilos (30 pounds) to play the role of the younger Kennedy, but then had to put it all back on within two weeks in order to play the older version of his character.

All in all, the film is a joy to watch and proved to be a great start to my movie marathon. It's well deserving of its 5 star rating I've given it.

Sneakers

Running Time: 126 minutes.
Media: DVD.

This was an old favorite of mine, I first saw this back in Year 11 when I was in my Computer Studies class back in school as part of a study in cryptography.

The movie involves the lives of Martin Bishop (played by the illustrious Robert Redford), a security systems consultant, and other fellow members of his "club", Dan Aykroyd, Sidney Poitier, River Phoenix and David Strathairn. In the attempt to recover a code-breaker, Bishop and his renegade "sneakers" get involved with the likes of Bishop's old friend Cosmo, who wound up in jail after being bagged for hacking university networks... Seems Marty had gone out to get pizza.

Further delving into the plan to retrieve, and then to re-retrieve the code-breaker result in both technical and comic incidences by the sneakers that pepper the film appropriately. Keep watch for the scene towards the end of the film involving a blind Whistler (played by Strathairn) driving the getaway van... always brings a smile to my face!

"Sneakers" differs from many other more recent caper films in the sense that the tension seems to be more focused on the action, and the music which coincides with the action makes the film all the worthwhile. Ben Kingsley's portrayal of Cosmo pushes the villain card even further, and it off-sets Martin's good-guy persona very well.

With twist after twist throughout the film, this movie has derived a  bit of a cult status, with Rotten Tomatoes giving it a rating of 81% with an average score of 6.8 out of 10. I'm personally giving it 4 stars, only because it's a little... schmaltzy after looking at it some 19 years later... but it's nevertheless a favorite of mine.