Bdub's Film Reviews

[BWilli]

Hello all,

First off, I'd like to say that there is no need to reply to this thread.  My idea here if for me to review films, old and new; be like the Ebert or Roeper of this board.  I'll add a new movie review as often as I see movies.

The first film I'm going to review is "Taking Lives."  

This is a spine tingling suspense flick, which may have some people guessing until the end.  The film stars Angelina Jolie, Ethan Hawke, Olivier Martinez and Keifer Sutherland and is directed by D.J. Caruso.  Jolie gives a great performance as Special Agent Illeana Scott, as she tracks down a murderer who assumes the lives of the people he kills.  Although it's not the greatest psychological thriller, I'll add my thumbs up to this flick.    If you like suspense you'll like this flick.  If not...it's got a pretty hot sex scene in it.  :mrgreen:

[BWilli]

My next review is for "The Ladykillers"

This is the Coen brothers in true fashion.  I never thought I'd see a movie starring Tom Hanks and Marlon Wayans, but the result was great.  Tom Hanks gives a great performance as Professor G.H. Dorr, a thief who puts together a team (Wayans, J.K. Simmons, Tzi Ma, and Ryan Hurst) to help him rob a casino.  Irma P. Hall is excellent as the landlady of the house in which they are using to dig a tunnel to the casino.

One of the best lines in the film...."You brought your bitch to the Waffle Hut?"  - Gawain MacSam (Wayans)

Although not the greatest Coen brothers film (and I have yet to see them all) I still give it a .  If you like the Coen bros., you'll like this flick.

[BWilli]

Before going to see The Ladykillers, I ran out and bought Gothika.  Right after getting back from seeing The Ladykillers, I watch Gothika.

Definately a faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaareaky movie!

Halle Berry plays Dr. Miranda Grey, who wakes up one day in the asylum for the criminally insane where she works....however, she wakes up as an inmate.  She finds that she is being charged with the murder of her husband, however with the help of a dead girl, she tries to prove her innosense.  Roberty Downy Jr., Penelope Cruz, Charles Dutton, and John Carroll Lynch co-star in the thrilling, chilling flick.  I gotta be honest....I jumped outta my seat a few times.

However a way different storyline, it's a tad similar to Stir of Echoes....but...I liked it.

I'm quite partial to "scary" type movies, so this one also gets a

[BWilli]

Picked up "Honey" the other night and watched it yesterday.

Eh!   Jessica Alba puts on an "okay" performance with an "okay" New York accent.  She plays Honey Daniels, a hip-hop dance teacher who wants to make it big, as...well.....a hip-hop dancer, in music videos.  She gets the opportunity from this hot-shot music video director, who in the end, wants only one thing in return....SEX!  Kinna obvious though.

I wasn't much for the acting, but the dancing was pretty damn good.  And actually, one of the best parts about this movie, although it was a small role, was Missy Elliot.  She added some laughs to a mostly dramtic storyline.  No thumbs up or down for this one.  It was just...."okay."  If you like hip-hop, you'll definately enjoy this flick.

[BWilli]

I didn't get a chance to catch any new movies this weekend, so I watched "Say Anything" which I bought over a month ago and put it off.....hooooooooooooooowever.....I'm glad I watched it.

To me, John Cusack is the most underrated actor there is today.....and this movie proves that once again.......

The first film directed by Cameron Crowe also stars Ione Skye, John Mahoney, Joan Cusack, Lili Taylor and Eric Stolz.  

Cusack gives one of his best performaces in this filmas Lloyd, an aspiring kickboxer with no definite plans. Skye plays Diane, the valedictorian with intentions to further her education in Europe.  Lloyd asks Diane out the day after graduation and she surprisingly accepts.  As an extremely unlikely couple, the two find happiness when spending what little time they have left together until she flies off to Europe.  Mahoney plays Diane's father who only wants the best for her, but runs into some trouble when he is accused of tax evasion.

I give it a

This is a must see for anyone who likes Cusack or 80s flicks.

[BWilli]

Fight Club....ahhh....what can I say about this movie....um gee, IT'S BRILLIANT....


I, like many people, have seen this movie lotso times, and I'll continue to see it, because it's just that damn good...

I'm, a huge Ed Norton fan, and think he should have won an Oscar for his role in American History X, but he just great in this movie as The Narrator.  That's how he is credited...as The Narrator.  Pitt is the man as the "imaginary friend" of The Narrator.  Personally I loved it when Jared Leto (pretty boy that he is in this flick) gets the shiat kicked outta him by Norton.

If I had a billion thumbs, I'd stick em all up...

[BWilli]

Well...I've waited for a long time to see this flick, and I did on Saturday...THE PUNISHER

SPOILERS BELOW, DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS!!!!

I'm gonna say this loud and clear, for all to hear (I'm a poet and I didn't know it).....I HATE ALL CRITICS

They suck.....they give bad reviews to good movies, and this is one of them.

Personally, I hated when all the critics said the Thomas Jane was not a good choice to play Frank Castle, aka The Punisher.  BUUUUUUUUUUULLSHIAT!!!  He was perfect for the role...

John Travolta also put in one of his best performances as of late as Howard Saint, the "arch-enemy" of The Punisher.

In a nut shell, the movie starts with Castle undercover in an FBI sting.  Howard Saint's oldest son is killed.  He orders his men to kill Castle and his entire family, which they do, except for Castle who survives.  Then begins the reven....no wait....the punishment.

One critic pissed me off by saying that Castle F'ed with the minds of Saint and his men, and there wasn't enough action.  Well he's right, but I liked it.  Castle basically turned Saint against everyone he knows, and it was great.

The fight scene between Castle and the Russian was the best.

This was Jonathan Hensleigh directorial debut, and he did a great job.  The film also starred, Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as Joan, Roy Scheider as Frank Castle, Sr., Laura Harring as Livia Saint, Ben Foster as Dave, and
Kevin Nash as The Russian.

The only thing I though could've have been different is that of Kevin Nash's role.  He looked more like the comicbook character, Tombstone, who is also and enemy of Castle.  However, another actor, Tom Nowicki, was cast as Lonnie Lincoln, which is Tombstones real name.  Nowicki had a pretty small role, no lines at all, and looked nothing like Tombstone.

But I still give this flick two

EDITED ON 4/19
Just did a little research on the whole Nowicki casting.  It turns out that his characters name was just Lincoln, not Lonnie Lincoln and therefore he was not Tombstone, which is cool.  However, I still think Kevin Nash looked like Tombstone, except he had a tan...and Tombston was an albino...

[BWilli]

13 Going On 30

This was definately not number 1 on my must see list but I promised my girlfriend I'd take her to see it, and I did.

I actually enjoyed the movie.  It was, of course, the typical "main character makes a wish, wish gets granted, is happy, then a whole bunch of realization happens, character is sad, then fixes the problem in the end", but it was still pretty funny.

Basically, Jen Garner is Jenna Rink, one day a 13 year old girl who makes a wish to be 30 years old, and next wakes up...as a 13 year old in a 30 year old body....Her life is completely different now, as she is an editor at her favorite magazine and best friends with the "popular girl" from school...and no longer best friends with her childhood neighbor Matt (Mark Ruffalo)...I wont spoil the story for anyone who hasn't seen the film yet, but I will tell you that Garner played the role perfectly, acting as a 13 year old would, walking, talking...reacting to seeing a guys "thingy" as she puts it....

It was definately not as good as "Big" was, but still worth seeing...it was funny and fun (especially the Thriller scene...)

[BWilli]

What's there to say about a film that kicks all major ass??

Kill Bill Volume 1.

I've had the DVD for about two weeks and finally got the chance to watch it.  I haven't seen Volume 2 yet, but I plan on it.

Uma rules as The Bride, set on avenging the death of her fiance and near death of herself.  The fight scenes were beyond amazing.  Definately Quentin T. at his best.  A tad over the top with the spraying of blood, but awesome never-the-less.

I like that he split the film into two volumes, and what a way to end the first half.  I wont spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I sat up surprised when it ended how it did.

Can't wait to see Vol. 2.

Two thumbs up.    

[BWilli]

The third annual Tribeca Film festival kicked off this weekend in NYC.

Last night I saw the world premier of "A Hole in One" starring Michelle Williams (of Dawson's Creek fame) and Meat Loaf Aday (Bob with the tits in Fight Club).

Before the movie started, the director, Richard Ledes (his first film) and the two star came out on stage.  It was pretty cool to see the Loaf.  Nice guy.

The film started and it was wonderful.

It's a comedy about Ana (Williams) who is intrigued by the whole mental health epic that is going on in 1953.  People are getting labatomies performed on themselves in order to make them more "happy".  Ana eventually decides that she wants one too, but her Mafia-type boyfirend (Loaf) doesn't want her to get it.

A lot of funny dialogue and scenes, with great acting by Williams and Loaf.

Fare warning if you do see this flick open at a theater near you and want to go see it, there is one pretty disturbing and nasty scene wear they show the labatomy being done.  It was done in a very comical way, and I couldn't stop laughing, yet cringing at the site of it as well.

Great first film for Ledes.    

I'll be catching two more films at the festival next Saturday, "Jailbait" and "Stateside".

[BWilli]

I saw two more great movies this weekend at the Film Festival in NYC.

I'll start off with Jailbait, starring Michael Pitt, Stephen Adly-Guirgis, David Zayas and Layla Robins.  That's it...four actors.  This film is written and directed by Brett Leonard...his first feature film.

This claustrophobic prison drama reveals an unsettling emotional vulnerability at the core of a struggle for power in a place of powerlessness.  The film is extremely dramatic, powerful, and at many points pretty disturbing.

It's not sure whether it will get a wide theatrical release, but if it does, I highly recommend seeing it.

[BWilli]

Next I saw "Stateside" at the festival.

This romantic drama/comedy follows a rebellios teenager played by Jonathan Tucker who is on leave from the Marines and falls in love with a female musician, played by Rachel Leigh Cook. The relationship is threatened when she develops a mental illness.

The film co-stars Joe Mantena, Ed Begley Jr., Carrie Fisher (yep, Princess Leia herself) and Val Kilmer, in a very small but very good role as the Marine Corp. drill instructor.

Cook gives a great performance as a Schizophrenic person...most likely her best role ever.

All in all, I saw three films at Tribeca, all of which I've reviewed, and I dont think I could have chosen any better films.  Plus most of the other films I wanted to see were sold out, but these were extremely well acted and directed flicks.  Check them out if they come to a theater near you soon.

[BWilli]

I watched "Stuck on You" this weekend as well.

Although not the best Farrelly brothers film, I did enjoy it.  The film stars Matt Damon and Greg Kinnear as conjoined twins (they're not Siamese...they're American), with Eva Mendes, Wen Yann Shih, and "I may look 30 but I'm really 150 years old" CHER...

One half of the twins, Walt (Kinnear) decides that he'd like to move to Hollywood to pursue an acting career and convinces his attached bro Bob (Damon) to come along for the ride in order to meet his internet girlfriend, May (Shih) who live out there.  Just one problem, May has no idea that Bob has a brother...let alone that they are joined at the hip.

There are many many jokes about the two being joined at the hip, like the scene where Walt is showering and the phone rings.  Bob answers it and Walt tell Bob to tell whoever it is that he's not there.

Mendes plays a really big ditz with really big tits.  Not too bad of a performace.  Cher is funny as a really big bitch, dating the Malcom in the Middle kid...

If you like the Farrelly bros. you should dig this film.  If not and you wanna see something else, go with either Shallow Hal or There's Something About Mary.

[BWilli]

Van Helsing

I checked this one out Friday night, and I was satisfied.

I had been hearing a lot of bad reviews of this film, and I can see why, however I found it to be a very fun movie to watch.

C'mon people...Hot Vampire Chicks.....GOOD.....Kick-ass special effect....GOOD.....all three major monsters in one f'ing movie....GOOD.....Hot Vampire Chicks....GOOD

Here's the plot (thanks to JoBlo.com)

A monster hunter named Van Helsing (Hugh Jackman) is appointed by the Vatican to hunt down the legendary figure of Dracula before he sets up greater shop around Transylvania. Helsing hooks up with an ass-kicking Transylvaniate (Kate Beckinsale) with a great rump but soon realizes that he's actually up against a variety of monsters including Dracula's three lovely ass-kicking wives (the man's apparently a Mormon), Dr. Frankenstein's pieced-together monster and a Wolfman. A monster-kicking adventure of epic proportions ensues...

A few bad things about the flick first...SPOILER ALERT...




The first scene in which Van Helsing appears, he's hunting down Mr. Hyde (yes....Mr. Hyde of Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde).  Mr Hyde was computer animated, and I don't think he needed to be.  Basically they made him this huge fat disgusting dude, with a funny tone(and that has to be because Robbie Coltrane lended his voice...)...It looked a tad cheesy, although I'll admit, the action in the scenes was entertaining...

The very last scene of the movie was just too friggen chessy.....there must have been a better way to end it.....

The only other thing that bothered be about this film was a little old thing called OVER-ACTING....a little by Beckinsale, and a little by Richard Roxburgh who played Dracula.  It was minor, and I got over it quickly.

Now the good stuff...

THAT ACTION WAS OFF THE FRIGGEN CHARTS.  A lot of CGI was use to make most of the fight scenes, and they all looked great.

THE WOLFMAN:  This was cool...in order to go from human to wolf, the dude RIPPED his skin off...way way way diffrent than how any human has turned into a wolf....I know I dont rip my skin off when I turn into a wolf....f'ing different and f'ing cool.........

David Wenham (Faramir in Lord of the Rings) plays Carl...Van Helsing's side-kick who adds most of the comic relief.....this guy was great....every movie needs some sort of comedy, and this was perfect....he was the typical side-kick, but extemely hilarious....

[BWilli]

Mean Girls...

Honestly I had no desire to see this, but I do have a girlfriend and since she always goes to see the action and horror flicks that I drag her too, I decided to see one of her chick flicks...

I actually think that Lindsey Lohan is a pretty good actress (great in Freaky Friday) and really good in this film.

She stars as Cady (pronounced Katie as we were reminded about a million times in the flick), a home-schooled giril who lived her childhood in Africa.  Her and her family move to the states and she begins mainstream school, for the first time in her life.  There she's forced to deal with the daily teen angst of cliques, gossip, backstabbing, boy crushes and oh yeah...homework.

SPOILERS are likely in the following review...

The good:  
-Lohan's acting (I can also see why many people think she has implants, but thats another story)
-Tina Fey as Ms. Norbury, one of the teachers at the high-school.  Perfect for this quirky role....kinna reminds me of the teacher in Varsity Blue, only Fey's character moonlights as a bartender, not a stripper....
-Tim Meadows as Mr. Duvall, the principal.  I don't think I've ever seena principal actually grab a baseball bat and head into the hallway to face a rioting bunch of teenage girls...that was actually one of the coolest scenes in the flick...
-Daniel Franzese as Damien.  Extremely funny as the gay guy of the movie.  "Oh my God - Danny DeVito! I love your work!" was one of the funniest lines.
-Rachel McAdams as Regina George, the head "Plastic".  Decent acting on her part.  Oddly enough, she actually like 28 in real life, looks like she's about 12, and plays a 16 year old in the movie....funny how things work out like that.

Now the bad...(SPOILERS)
-First off...this pisses me off....I hate this line, and not sure in this movie...in all movies that this line is in...
         Karen: I'm kinda psychic. I have a fifth sense.
         Cady: Really?
         Karen: It's like I have ESPN or something!
WHY WHY WHY MUST WRITER'S PUT THIS INTO THEIR SCREENPLAYS....IT'S JUST AWFULLY STUPID AND OVER USED....
- Ok...the few scenes where Cady refers to the high-school as reminding her of animals in the jungle, and then the students actually being shown acting as animal....that was really lame....
-  Regina getting hit by the bus.  It wasn't the fact that she got hit by the bus that was stupid.....okay wait....it was.  There was no need for that.  But okay it happened....so then what?  Like 2 months later, she's still as pretty as she was before the accident, is up walking around (with a metal brace bolted to her head), and attending the school dance?  COME ON....if you were it by a bus the way she was, there's is no friggen way you'd still look that f'ing good (DIDN'T YOU PEOPLE SEE FINAL DESTINATION...THAT CHICK F'ING DIED ON INPACT).  And you sure as hell wouldn't be up walking around with a fractured back attending dances....you'd be laid up in a special hospital bed in your house for months (MORE THAN 2, THAT'S FOR SURE)....
When the bus hit her, I think I actually said, "That's stupid" a little too loud...

The film could have been so much better if Regina had not gotten hit by the bus.

I'm split on this one...it was half good and half bad..I'll give it one of each: